I Die For You In My Dreams Every Time
by Snapplelinz
Summary: "May death and dreams be the only things that separate you from now on." A story in which Robbie Shapiro realises that he not only knows Cat Valentine better than anyone, but he loves her no matter what reality or lack thereof they find themselves in.
1. Rejection

**Arthur's Note: Hey there, Sports Fans! It's been a good couple of years since I've written a new story for this site :-/ But I got weirdly hooked back onto Victorious in the last two months and it inspired me to write a Robbie and Cat story for the first time. And it absolutely has nothing to do with my unexpected and obsessive celebrity crush on Ariana Grande either *blushes profusely***

**Kidding. She inspired this story 100%.**

**Ariana is everything to me now. **

**Erm...anyway...this turned out to be longer than the oneshot I originally planned to write. So I'm splitting the full story into several chapters for your visual pleasure. This story will start off relatively straightforward and meander onto a new tangent towards the end. Please bear with me, I was exploring various genres in this story. **

**Now for the first chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I really don't own _Victorious_ or the zany characters from this hilarious show. If I did, Ariana would've sung a lot...in every single episode. The whole show would've been an Ariana Musicale Spectacular called _Grande or Venti?_**

* * *

Robbie Shapiro stood in front of his locker with a look of determination etched onto his pale face.

To anyone looking at him in that moment, they might've thought Robbie was concentrating so hard because he was trying to mentally solve a complex mathematical equation.

But today, Robbie had more on his mind than numbers.

"I'm going to do it." He said aloud.

First period classes had just finished and he had only minutes till the sing-song bells chimed and the next round of classes began at Hollywood Arts.

"No, you're not." Rex replied confidently.

"Yes, I am! Why do you always have to argue with me?"

"Because I know you, and you're a choker. You're going to choke."

"Shut up, Rex! And I am not a choker!"

Robbie always had fights like this with the mean-spirited puppet. But today, Rex's snide comments seemed to sink deeper into his bones.

And it was because this wasn't just any ordinary day.

Today was the day that he, Robbie Ephraim Shapiro, was going to ask Cat Valentine out on a date and she would finally accept.

"You're going to choke so hard, Rob. Like when you choked on your own saliva that one time," Rex continued in that familiar vein of contempt for the teenage boy.

"That's not even newsworthy! Everyone chokes on their own saliva, Rex!" Robbie hissed, willing his armpits to stop sweating.

He paled when he caught a flash of red velvet hair in the distance. Cat was descending the prison grey staircase from the second floor of Hollywood Arts. She walked amidst the usual array of students dancing their butts off on the first level. As usual, she looked cute as a button in Robbie's eyes with her hair done up in a long ponytail flicking from side to side as she walked. She was wearing a baby pink tank-top with blue cats printed on them and a pair of black, high-waisted shorts that cut off mid-thigh, putting her shapely legs on display. Her feet were encased in a simple pair of white and purple ice-cream sneakers.

Her backpack hopped up and down behind her in a perfect rhythm with her jaunty, bouncing steps as she descended the staircase. She was a wildflower catching in the wind, flooding the prison grey stairs with more colourful vivacity than the coloured graffiti on the steps the closer she got towards Robbie.

"Show time," Robbie muttered half to himself.

He made a sudden decision and gingerly put Rex down next to a blonde girl sitting on the ground in front of her locker.

"Hi, can you watch him for me? Thanks!" Robbie proclaimed, not giving the girl a chance to refuse.

"Robbie, get back here! Don't you dare leave me alone with this rando!" Rex exclaimed heatedly.

"Hey!" the blonde girl shouted in protest.

"Oh, save the indignation for Court TV, Rando!"

Robbie shook his head at Rex's meanness and practically ran to Cat.

If he didn't do this now, he didn't know if he'd ever have the nerve to do it again for at least 6-8 more days.

"Hey, Cat!" he greeted, hoping his voice sounded breezy enough to feign a casual encounter with the girl of his dreams.

He subtly checked over his appearance for the umpteenth time. He worse his signature dark blue skinny jeans with a paid of white and blue Asics on his feet. He wore a short-sleeved golf shirt as per usual, but with yellow and black stripes which he hoped brought out the colour of his dark brown eyes.

He pointedly ignored Rex's earlier jab that morning, insisting that Robbie looked like a bee.

Robbie knew that his hair was hopeless at this point; he'd done his best with combing through the tangled mess, but the effect had left his curly afro flattened on both sides while the rest of it stood up on end in an untidy heap.

He only hoped that Cat wouldn't notice.

Cat, who had looked deep in thought about something a moment before, caught sight of Robbie. Her mouth crinkled naturally in a smile of recognition, an adorable dimple making an appearance on her left cheek as it occurred.

"Hey, Robbie."

"How was A.P History?" Robbie asked in a conversational tone, willing his heart to stop pounding like a freight train in his chest.

"Oh, super hard and long! I hate having to memorise different years for things that happened in the past. Like, wouldn't it be better if all major events like wars and stuff all just happened in a single year, but on different dates? I mean, I'd definitely remember it better if World Wars 1 and 2 both happened in one year, and in the same week too. That might make them easier to remember and then people could celebrate their anniversaries in the same year with a party and special props!" Cat gushed out like she was talking and running on a treadmill at the same time.

Which was usually the way Cat spoke about anything that interested her: full steam ahead with no stops in-between.

Robbie scrunched his nose at Cat's nonsensical monologue and decided to forge on.

"Yeah, it would be cool if all major wars were celebrated in the same year instead of when they actually happened," Robbie agreed, feigning enthusiasm. "Listen, Cat, I have two tickets to a Fat Biscuit concert happening this Saturday and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me."

"Sure, that sounds cool. Can Tori come too?" Cat asked in a hopeful tone.

"Tori? Why?"

"You said you had two tickets. So Tori and I can both come with you – she loves Fat Biscuit!"

"That's not what I meant, Cat. I have an _extra_ ticket, which is for you. That is, if you'd like to go with me."

"Ohhhh…" Cat trailed off in a small voice.

Then she started twirling a strand of her red hair around her index finger in what looked like obvious discomfort to Robbie.

"Do you want to go just as friends? Or would this be a date?" she finally asked quietly.

"Well…I wanted it to be a date. Cat, I like you a lot and I love hanging out with you away from school and our other friends. I was hoping we could spend more time together, just the two of us." Robbie answered truthfully.

"Robbie, that's really sweet. But given the circumstances, I don't think I can accept your invitation to the Fat Biscuit concert." Cat declared with alarming lucidity.

Robbie's heart dropped into his stomach at Cat's words. On some level, he knew better than to think that she would actually accept his romantic invitation this time around. But he'd still hoped for the best against his better judgement.

"Ok…"

"I like you, Robbie, but just as a good friend. Not as a boyfriend. I can get boyfriends any time I want, but good friends are really hard to come by…like unicorns!"

"What?" Robbie asked in bewilderment, his head still reeling from Cat's more serious tone just seconds before.

"Unicorns are so beautiful and difficult to track, just like Chris Hemsworth. And like him, I know I could never date a unicorn…" Cat rambled on.

"Why not?!" Robbie blurted out suddenly.

Obviously not in reference to why Cat wouldn't date Chris Hemsworth, but him more specifically.

Then again, he definitely had some questions about why Cat didn't like the famous Australian actor.

He was tall and handsome and wore more male makeup than even he did…

"Ooh! Now I have to go draw a Chris Hemsworth unicorn in my notebook-"

"CAT!"

This got the redhead's attention and she stopped her nonsensical rambling.

"Why not?" Robbie asked more quietly this time.

Cat's big, brown eyes grew weary and Robbie instinctively surmised that she knew exactly what he meant. That's when he realized that he didn't actually want to hear her answer after all.

"You don't know me…"

Whatever Robbie had expected Cat to say, it certainly hadn't been that. Those four, simple words were enough to shear at what little self-esteem the gawky teenage boy had stored away just for this moment.

"That's ridiculous! We've gone to the same school for four years. I've sat next to you at lunch and in nearly every single class for that entire time!" Robbie proclaimed, finally losing patience with the girl of his dreams.

To his surprise, Cat didn't react in anger to Robbie's words. But she sighed uncharacteristically deep, and that unnerved Robbie a great deal.

"Knowing someone isn't the same as being close to them, Robbie Shapiro." Cat declared with unnerving lucidity.

And when she walked to her locker with her head bowed and clutching her A.P History textbook tightly to her chest, Robbie knew that she'd meant every single word before.

* * *

To say that Robbie was upset by the time school was over was an understatement.

He'd been listless and dejected all day, Cat's ominous words from earlier that morning churning round and round in his stomach like bread made with gluten.

He sat at lunch with friends and across from Cat at the _Asphalt Café_, the intense heat of the sun burning the back of his neck. But he'd barely taken in anything said at the table and his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches tasted like rocks going down his throat.

It didn't help that Robbie's mom texted him and told him to go straight to his grandmother's house directly after school because in her own words, 'Nana broke the internet again'.

"Robbie, are you even listening to me?" Nana Shapiro demanded in that whiny and petulant voice of hers.

They'd been fighting about the 'broken internet' for the past half hour and Robbie was inches away from losing his marbles at the asinine nature of this situation.

Robbie squeezed his temples with the tips of his pale fingers so tight that he worried he would burst a few veins in his head. "What's wrong, Nana?"

He glanced around at the antique furniture in his grandparents' living room, wondering idly why they hadn't updated it in what looked like 40 years. The dookie brown ottoman sofa with the white, lacy covers strewn over the tops looked like they'd come straight from the era of the Nixon Administration…

"I asked you why it wouldn't bite you."

"Why wouldn't what bite me?"

"The mouse."

"What mouse?"

"The mouse you click. Clicking it is touching it, and animals can be pretty skittish around people. So if you touch a computer mouse, surely it would bite you and then you'd get rabies or the plague." Nana reasoned out.

For a split moment, her logic had sounded uncannily like Cat's, which depressed Robbie even more.

"Nana, this isn't even a real mouse," Robbie explained, holding the plastic item up in front of his grandmother's face. "It's an inanimate object that can't bite – you know what, just forget it." He huffed out in defeat.

"You're so grumpy today! What's gotten my bubbeleh's tighty-whities in a twist this time?" Nana Shapiro cooed affectionately.

"Nana! I've told you a thousand times – I switched to briefs a year ago!"

"Let me guess: your little schmuck isn't feeling so kosher in a cotton prison?"

"Nana, I swear on the Torah-"

"You'd better not swear on that," Nana Shapiro warned with a beady eye.

Robbie sighed and threw his hands up in surrender. "Just forget it, Nana," he repeated once more.

"It's girl trouble, right?"

"Nana…"

"It's that tiny girl with the flaming red hair and an animal's name, isn't it?"

"Nana…"

"What was her name again? Butterfly? Caterpillar? Tiger?"

"Nana…"

"It had three letters actually…Fox? Bug? Owl?

"Please wake me up from this nightmare…" Robbie muttered to himself. Rex was being unnervingly quiet in the midst of all this while sitting on the living room ottoman a few inches away; just when Robbie needed an inappropriate diversion from the abrasive puppet.

It was ironic to the teenage boy just how close Nana had gotten to getting Cat's name right when she guessed 'caterpillar'…

"It couldn't have been 'Dog', right?" Nana Shapiro murmured, continuing her merciless stupidity.

"It's Cat!" Robbie fumed, finally losing his patience with his grandmother.

"I was gonna get there eventually."

Somehow, Robbie highly doubted it.

"I don't know why you're getting so worked up over that one, Bubbeleh. She's not even your B'shert."

"Can you please drop it, Nana? And in any case, it doesn't matter because Cat doesn't like me back. She never will," Robbie snapped.

But for once, Robbie's grandmother saw past her grandson's surly tone and wisely interpreted the muted hurt that lay beneath his angry words.

"Oh, Robbie…" Nana Shapiro began in what she hoped was a soothing voice. "You might be too young to understand this now. But your heart's going to break at least a million times in the next few years before you finally meet a girl that glues your heart back together."

"But I don't wanna fall in love more times after this! I just want Cat! I like her so much…"

"Oh, Bubbeleh…"

"But she doesn't get it! She says that I don't know her!" Robbie fumed indignantly.

"Well…do you know her, Robbie?"

"Not you too…"

"Don't shoot the messenger! Think about it: that girl is all kinds of strange – do you even know what she likes and dislikes?"

"Of course I know! I know plenty about her, enough to know that I've never felt this way about another girl, nor will I want to ever again. What's so bad about me huh? Sure, I'm kind of a nerd and I like my gadgets a little too much. But Cat likes tech stuff too! Or she wouldn't have spent close to $500,000 at the _Sky Store _a year ago! Plus, I'd treat her well if I were her boyfriend. I come from a good family! Dad's a doctor and Mom's a rabbi! It's not like I live in Northridge or something-"

"Now you slow your sus there, Robbie Shapiro! It's true that our family has money now, but that wasn't always the case! My father and your great-grandfather, Hezekiah Shapiro, barely had two pennies to rub together when he first came to America all those years ago. He first worked around the docks at Ellis Island before he was finally allowed to go inland to look for more permanent work. He travelled all around the country till he wound up in Hollywood, well…long before it became Tinsel Town. Did you even know that most of modern Los Angeles and Northridge used to be farming land before all the hippies and democrats arrived? You were lucky if you could even grow one fully grown piece of fruit during those summer months, amidst the scorching heat and dust. What do you think John Steinbeck based _The Grapes of Wrath_ on?"

"Grapes," Robbie quipped before he could stop himself.

"Always such a wise ass," Nana Shapiro muttered, cuffing her grandson hard on the side of his head with her left hand holding her engagement ring and wedding on it. "The point is, your great grandfather was a hired hand for decades on a farm in Northridge before he made something of himself. The owner took a shine to him and since he had no son of his own, he left his farm to your great grandfather in his will when he died. Great Pappy Shapiro turned a profit with his first harvest as the owner and started investing more money into Tinsel Town when the movie industry started booming in the 1940s. That's why your dad took up acting classes in college before he settled in dentistry and that's why he was so proud when you got accepted into Hollywood Arts years ago. Never forget your roots, Robert Ephraim…" Nana Shapiro concluded, poking her grandson hard in the ribs for dramatic effect.

"Yes, Nana," Robbie conceded with a low sigh.

"Good. Speaking of roots, why are these roots all different colours?" Nana Shapiro asked, pointing at several things poking out from behind the computer's hard drive.

"They're called wires, you ignoramus!" Pappy Shapiro yelled from inside the bathroom as per usual.

"Don't yell at me!"

"Why can't you make me a sandwich instead of torturing our grandson with your complete lack of knowledge about computers!"

"I know plenty about a lot of other things – like the fact that it's unhealthy for a grown man to spend his entire life inside a toilet!"

"I like it in here! And I have a chronic bladder infection!"

"Oh, just take a pill for it!"

"I can only take a pill when I eat something! I'm hungry!"

"Make a sandwich in the toilet while you're at it!"

"I'm in hell…" Robbie murmured in dismay to himself, listening to his grandparents' ridiculous bickering.

* * *

When Robbie finally got home later, he was too emotionally and physically drained to even tackle the stack of homework he'd gotten from his teachers earlier that day.

All he wanted to do was sleep and forget all about Cat Valentine and the outside world for a few hours.

After taking a shower, he shut Rex in his drawer bed for the night.

Rex used to sleep beside Robbie every night before this. But after the nightmares about Rex the Giant had intensified, Lane recommended that Robbie give himself some 'healthy space' from the rude puppet. So Robbie had installed a miniature bed inside one of his underwear drawers and Rex had slept in there ever since.

Rex protested at first, but finally conceded when he realized he wouldn't have to keep smelling Robbie's foot cheese anymore.

After ensuring that Rex was comfortable, Robbie collapsed onto his own bed in a tired heap, wearing his snuggest _Galaxy Wars_ onesie.

On impulse, he grabbed his special edition battery-operated replica of Nug Nug, a prominent character from _Galaxy Wars_, from off his bedside pedestal. He pressed a button on the back and his bedroom was suddenly filled with alien's high-pitched shrieking as Nug Nug said one of his catch-phrases:

"_What's your damage, space scum?!" _Nug Nug demanded, followed by the sounds of space blasters shooting off a crescendo of synthesized effects in the background.

"She doesn't love me back, Nug Nug. That's my freakin' damage," Robbie replied bitterly to the toy in his hands.

And just to add to his misery, he kept pressing the button repeatedly afterwards, Nug Nug's shouts becoming just another taunt for the day as he held the toy close to his chest.

Try as he might, Robbie couldn't keep certain thoughts out of his head, especially what his grandmother had said about Great Pappy Shapiro and Northridge.

"Of all the places my family could come from," Robbie scoffed openly. "Northridge is still full of thugs, like those guys who jacked my car…"

He sighed and finally put Nug Nug back back onto his pedestal. Then he turned over on his side and switched off his lamp, covering himself and his thoughts in absolute darkness.

"Freakin' Northridge is so gank…" Robbie mumbled over and over, sleep finally overtaking him a little while later.

* * *

**Author's Note: And that was the first chapter. I hope I characterised Cat as realistically as possible with some added depth to her kooky personality. Cat won't be as dumb in this story as she is in the show, but I still hope I'll be able to capture her character's voice as much as possible from time to time. To anyone of Jewish descent reading this story, please forgive me if my use of Yiddish in this story is not that accurate. I am not Jewish, but I do love schmearing a bagel or two. **

**And now for the big question: besides Rex's crazy prom escapades in _Victorious, _what on Earth does Northridge have to do with this story? **

**Oh, you shall see soon, my friend. And it will make your brain 'banana bread' crazy. **

**Tootles!**


	2. Acceptance

**Author's Note:**** Hello, everyone! I'm planning on posting chapters for this story over the next few days. The Corona Virus has hit China quite badly and China is where in the world I find myself these days. **

**You just had to be tempted by the promise of riches and a sexy girlfriend with the potential to be exotic and super into you - all at the same time.**

**Plus, that ESL qualification opened all the right doors, Snapplelinz. **

**So now I'm hiding out in my apartment avoiding a dangerous virus and avoiding cabin fever by posting chapters of this story. I am living on the edge.**

**You hear that, ladies?**

**I am risky, creative and very, very single.**

**Please break down my front door one at a time. **

**Now to the second chapter! **

**Disclaimer:**** I still do not own Victorious or the zany characters of this hilarious show. If I did, Victoria Justice and Ariana Grande would've been contractually obligated to kiss on the mouth several times every episode. That is all. **

* * *

When he woke up, Robbie grimaced in pain. The muscles on his legs were all knotted and his back was killing him.

He soon discovered the reason why when he sat up in bed and looked about him.

To begin with, he'd forgotten to change into his long johns and night shirt when he'd returned from the market the day before. The metal buckles of his braces attached to his pants had dug mercilessly into the ridges of his back all night long. Secondly, his bed was as hard as a rock and had giant tufts of hay seeping out from beneath a downy, goose quilt that felt scratchy and harsh on his skin.

Robbie had been dreaming of a girl with an unrecognizable face yet again. Just like always, she was a bride dressed in white and a floral wreath made from scores of fragrant, wild flowers found in the valleys of Northridge. Her back was always turned to Robbie as she walked down the aisle of the local church, more wild flowers gathered around her bare ankles as she moved closer towards the minister's pulpit.

And whenever she turned to finally look at him, the dream always ended there.

It was driving Robbie crazy.

And it was all his infernal grandmother's fault. She was the last of his living relations and she made it known at every turn by nagging him incessantly, particularly about the future.

She started her nagging afresh when he finished his toilette and entered the cavernous kitchen.

"Sleep well?" Nana Shapiro asked with a beady eye while making some eggs on the hearth for his breakfast.

Robbie grunted in reply and found a seat at the wooden, rickety dining table in the dining room. The sun had only risen just 30 minutes before and was still a dull haze of oranges and pinks in the sky overlooking the dusty farmlands of Northridge. He abhorred early risings, but he knew that he must get to the market as soon as possible to entertain the local folk with-

"That doll kept you away from home again till the early hours again, didn't it?" his grandmother demanded shrewdly, cutting into Robbie's thoughts.

Nana Shapiro was dressed in black as per usual. She had dressed that way ever since Pappy Shapiro's death several years before. While most folk thought that the eldest of the Shapiros looked regal with a short black veil that always covered her face, Robbie just thought that she looked like a demented gargoyle.

He decided not to answer his grandmother's question, choosing instead to focus all of his attention on the battered pocket watch in his hand. It was an old family heirloom that his late father had given him the day of his Bar Mitzvah just 5 years before.

"You're wasting your life away, Robert," Nana Shapiro ventured in her usual tone of patronizing derision. "You're 18 years and a man now. You shouldn't be playing around like a little boy anymore. You should be thinking of more important things like marriage."

"Nana, I have told you a thousand times. I have no wish to be married right now!" Robbie fumed, forgetting for a moment that he was supposed to be ignoring his grandmother.

"Yes, I know, Bubbeleh. You want to be some kind of crazy court jester with your wooden doll instead of carrying on the Shapiro name for generations to come."

"I want to entertain people, my dear grandmother. And it's not a wooden doll, it's a puppet. And I whittled him into existence myself." Robbie said with pride, gazing across the room at his wooden progeny with obvious affection.

Robbie always left the puppet in the same place whenever he left and returned to his home, on his grandmother's wooden mantle above the fireplace. He was not a beautiful thing to look at with his overly tanned face, a short and squat nose and lips that wouldn't have looked out of place on a duck. But Robbie had labored for days on creating the perfect, inanimate object to be his lifelong companion in his quest of pursuing the art of entertaining people for money.

He knew it was a novel idea for the mid-19th century and many people in Northridge and beyond found his career plans not only impractical, but laughable. But Robbie Shapiro had long since disregarded the disdain of his peers. He wanted to make people laugh and he was determined to make his dreams come true.

Marrying at a young age didn't factor into his more worldly plans for acquiring happiness.

"I still think you are far too old to be playing with dolls," Robbie's grandmother said sternly. "And in any case, it's already been decided. The Valentines have an older son, Randall (fondly known as 'Rat' by his friends) but he is far too…immature to run the family farm. Patrick and Matilda Valentine need someone to marry their youngest daughter, Caterina, and keep their estate within the family. You are young and an eligible bachelor with excellent prospects, if only you'd do something about it."

Robbie shook his head vehemently at his grandmother's flawed logic. He'd heard way too many rumours about the eccentric Valentine family from the locals in Northridge. It was true that he had gone to school with Caterina for years when they were younger, but she had gone to live with her grandparents in Nevada during her high school years and he had subsequently lost touch with her after that. He'd had one too many run-ins with Rat Valentine, who thought it was hilarious to pull chairs away from unsuspecting women about to sit down and to pull down the trousers of any man or boy foolish enough to be in close proximity to him. Caterina's parents (fondly known as 'Pat' and 'Mat' by their nearest and dearest') seemed normal enough, but Robbie had his doubts about the entire family.

He vaguely remembered Caterina's own unusual whims at school. She'd often left the draughty room in the middle of their morning sums to run outside and chase butterflies. And whenever a poem needed to be read aloud in class, Caterina had always volunteered first and often done the recitations in the strangest accents that Robbie had ever heard.

And now his grandmother actually wanted him to marry such an unusual girl?

"It may seem like a match made in heaven, but I disagree. I don't even know her, Nana. How can two people get married and not have a thing in common?" he demanded of his oldest relative.

"Finding things in common grows from taking an interest in another person, my Bubbeleh. After that, you grow to respect the similarities and love the differences."

"I respectfully disagree."

"And I respect your opinion on the matter. Which is why you will not be going to the marketplace to play with dolls today. I've accepted an invitation from Matilda Valentine on your behalf to have tea at noon in her home. Caterina has just returned from visiting her grandparents in Nevada and would like to reacquaint herself with her old schoolmate." Nana Shapiro declared without preamble.

"Nana! I can't believe you accepted an invitation to tea without first consulting me! That was not only presumptuous of you, but dishonest too." Robbie fumed indignantly.

"I respectfully disagree." Nana Shapiro rejoined, flashing a devilish grin at her grandson's scowling features.

* * *

Robbie trudged along a brow-beaten path teeming with wild flowers at every turn en route to the Valentine Farm. He'd even picked a few along the way that hadn't wilted due to the icy winds indigenous to the cold winter months in Northridge. He wanted to present these meagre floral tokens to Caterina since it was what his grandmother would expect him to do. He could've gone to the market and bought the girl a proper bouquet, but his grandmother would never have agreed to let him go anywhere near the market, in case he decided to avoid having tea with the Valentines'.

Robbie kicked savagely at a loose piece of dirt with his boot, which was caked with years of encrusted mud and dust.

The whole thing was completely unfair!

Why did he have to go to all this trouble to please a girl that he was forced to marry?

Even though he would never live to see it, Robbie sincerely hoped that people who ended up existing a hundred years from now would view marriage in a more modern light than this.

With these begrudging thoughts in his mind and heart, Robbie continued his bleak journey.

The ground beneath him shifted slightly from dusty and uneven rocks to soft, springy grass that tickled his feet. He finally stopped scowling at the ground and stared aghast in front of him.

He'd never visited Valentine Farm before, so no one had prepared him in advance for the aesthetic treat which flooded his senses.

He was greeted first by the sweet scent of apples coming from the orchards on either side of the Valentine's home. The apples in question hung in opaline shades of peach and gold, making Robbie suddenly long to move forward and grab just one from its branch.

A rustic well with a modern pump affixed to it lay a few steps away from the front porch. The Valentine estate itself was modest in its architecture: a high arching gabled roof painted an emerald green that reminded Robbie once again of apples encased in cream-coloured walls. The front porch was made of sturdy oak that squeaked underneath Robbie's muddied boots, which he'd suddenly wished he'd spent more time cleaning before coming here.

He took a deep breath before lifting the brass knocker which was in the shape of an apple and made his presence at Valentine Farm known.

Patrick and Matilda Valentine opened their front door promptly, almost as if they had been waiting impatiently on the other side of it for Robbie's visit. Their smiles were large, but welcoming to the pale, scrawny teenage boy with his mop of wild, curly black hair.

"Robert Shapiro! Thank you so much for coming to our humble home," Pat introduced with gaiety, ringing Robbie's hand like he wanted to dislocate the boy's arm on purpose just because he was so happy to see him.

"It is my honour, sir, and please call me 'Robbie'."

"We are so happy to have you over to finally see our Caterina, Mr. Shapiro," Mat joined in, shaking Robbie's hand just as hard as her husband had done seconds before, smiling widely at her prospective son-in-law.

"The pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Valentine, and please call me 'Robbie'," the teenage boy greeted, repeating the last part to no avail.

"Our Caterina is waiting in the parlour for you," Mat declared with a sweeping hand behind her.

"May we take your coat for you?" Pat asked politely.

Robbie murmured his thanks and stepped over the threshold of the Valentines' home. The interior was cheerfully designed and decorated with scores of family pictures hanging on every wall that Robbie passed. There were a number of embroidered cushions resting on stools in the living room; the teenage boy wondered idly if Caterina or her mother had made them.

He finally reached the door to the parlour, which had been left ajar. He turned back around for a moment and realized that Patrick and Matilda Valentine hadn't followed him like he originally thought.

This had probably been by design, to give him some time alone with their only daughter, while they remained in close proximity somewhere else in the house.

This made Robbie all the more nervous as he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Caterina was seated at a long, wooden table draped in a decorative lacy cover. Situated on top of it was a metal tea tray with expensive-looking china consisting of a teapot, two identical cups and a plate not filled with the usual array of biscuits. Instead, this plate contained what looked like reddish-brown muffins, but with what appeared to be dollops of thick cream on top.

This wasn't helping with Robbie's initial impression that the Valentine Family was a little odd.

He tore his eyes away from the tea tray and focused on Caterina instead.

She was dressed in a fashionable green dress with poufy shoulders and etched in white lace around the edges of the skirt and its long sleeves. Her velvety, red hair was done up in a long, braided ponytail styled with light pink ribbons.

Despite the awkward situation, Robbie's cheeks turned as red as Caterina's hair when he reflected on how breathtaking the girl was upon closer inspection.

She really had grown up very well since they'd last met.

Robbie began comparing his and Caterina's appearances. His grandmother had insisted he wear his best black suit with a crisp, white linen shirt and a short black tie. But he'd had the same suit for several years already and without looking down, Robbie knew that his pants legs had become a little shorter thanks to a sudden growth spurt in the past year.

Caterina Valentine rose to her feet when Robbie entered the room. He gulped nervously when she inclined her head towards him and curtseyed.

"Mr. Shapiro, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance again after all these years," Caterina began in a demure voice.

It was quite unlike the voice she'd used during their schooling years, that one being filled with a veracious excitement at every new thing she experienced. This voice was that of an adult: more controlled and huskier now.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance too, Miss Valentine," Robbie greeted in turn.

He stooped over Caterina's hand and impulsively brushed his lips over her pale knuckles with a chaste kiss.

"I am sure you have some trepidation about us meeting again under these circumstances. But I hope you'll eventually feel comfortable enough around me, like you used to be when we were at school together." Caterina proclaimed, glancing down at her feet as she spoke.

She was seated again at the parlour table with her fingers interlaced somewhat restlessly on her lap.

Despite his complex feelings regarding marriage, Robbie couldn't help smiling at Caterina's way of phrasing things. He'd always remembered her as being an intuitive and straightforward girl when it came to reading people's emotions accurately.

It seemed that this was at least one good thing that hadn't changed about her over time.

"I would like that very much," Robbie said in earnest, coming to sit in the chair nearest to his betrothed.

Caterina lifted her eyes to meet Robbie's. His heart jumped imperceptibly in his chest when her soft, brown eyes gleamed as she smiled at him, a dimple appearing on her left cheek in the process.

"Perhaps we could start with something simple. When we are alone like this in the future, you may call me 'Cat'. If you are amenable, of course." Caterina continued, becoming more and more confident as she spoke.

"I am indeed amenable. I would like it too if we were less formal with each other in the future, so you may call me 'Robbie' when we are alone."

Cat smiled again and Robbie feared he was already growing far too attached to the familiarity of that action.

"I would like that very much…Robbie," Cat said, testing the sound of her betrothed's name on her lips and liking the way it felt despite the circumstances. "It really is wonderful to see you again after all this time," she reiterated, nostalgia flooding every syllable.

"You too…Cat. You too," Robbie agreed, smiling just as much in the moment.

* * *

**Author's**** Note:** **It appears that Robbie is either dreaming or travelled back in time somehow, and to a nicer version of of Northridge too. Either way, Cat is there with him and still as gorgeous as ever. I was heavily influenced by _Anne with an E_ while writing this chapter and pretty much...the entire story. Don't worry, none of the characters won't suddenly break out into a chorus of 'Oh, Canada' at any point during this story. **

**Not even Beck. **

**I'm 97% sure of that. **

**This story is very long and I've forgotten most of the minor details. **

**Please don't make fun of me too much when I use 'Ye Old English' in this story. I like old-timey English very much and I turn into the biggest douchebag whenever I use it in conversation. **

**Hence why my friends have stopped inviting me to big social gatherings. **

**Please leave me some reviews and feedback on the story. I will try my best to accept all the praise and ignore all the criticism. Thanks for reading!**

**Tootles!**


	3. Nuptials

**Author's Note:**** Good evening, ladies and gents! It's only been about 5 minutes since I composed the previous set of authors' notes that are really talking about absolutely nothing. I have to say that I was most inspired by the funnier and wittier author notes of Demondreaming and waitwhathuh. They are my Victorious author idols and I have favourited and reviewed nearly every single one of their Victorious stories in the past month. **

**I'm expecting the restraining orders to arrive in a fortnight or so. **

**Robbie and Cat have reacquainted themselves with each other in Northridge in the 1850s. And so far, Robbie has managed to avoid making Cat head for the hills. Perhaps Robbie Shapiro from another time save for the present is actually quite appealing...? **

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Victorious_ or the zany characters from this hilarious show. If I did, Daniella Monet would've gotten more face time with her whacky exploits as Trina Vega in every episode. She is definitely one of my four favourite Vegans in the whole world, and that list includes Ariana Grande as well. I'll let you all guess who the other two celebrities are. Hint: they are also female. **

* * *

There was much to prepare after that first meeting. Robbie still wasn't exactly thrilled by the prospect of marrying. And yet, he really did like Cat Valentine very much.

She was easy to talk to and possessed the vivacity of a woodland nymph. She was imaginative beyond comparison and it was occasionally difficult for the scrawny teenage boy of Jewish descent to follow the girl's whimsical discussions about life.

But it was certainly a lot of fun to try and understand exactly what went on in Cat's mind.

While her parents and his grandmother fussed and fretted over the wedding plans, Cat and Robbie took long walks together throughout the countryside of Northridge. Robbie even took Cat to the market on occasion, often unchaperoned by Rat. He had accompanied them at first, but his poor taste in public practical jokes were quite tiresome to the betrothed couple, who often had to apologise on behalf of Cat's eccentric brother for the tricks that he pulled on unsuspecting victims. So after a lengthy discussion with her parents, Cat finally convinced them to let her accompany Robbie on walks without any adult supervision.

Robbie even showed Cat his puppet Rexford (whose name was fondly shortened to 'Rex') on one of her visits to his grandmother's home. Cat couldn't honestly say that she liked puppets after being introduced to Rex. But she was impressed that Robbie was sufficiently skilled at whittling to have made the doll all on his own. And she couldn't resist smiling when Robbie spoke with such passion about the art of ventriloquism and even showed her some of his tricks with making Rex talk without being seen to move his lips at all.

It was all very strange and yet quite amusing at the same time to the young, red-headed woman.

A month before the wedding was due to take place, Mr. and Mrs. Valentine sat Robbie and Cat down in the parlour and announced that they were planning on giving the family home and farm to them as an early wedding present. Patrick Valentine was determined to expand his apple business and had already purchased a bigger home for him and his wife that was only 3 miles away from their first home. It was arranged that Rat would accompany his parents to the new house and Nana Shapiro would move in with the newly wedded couple. While Robbie had his misgivings about his grandmother living with him after he was married, Cat was delighted by the prospect of having Nana Shapiro live with them. Both women had taken an instant liking to each other when they'd first met and the older woman had already shared a few secret family recipes with her grandson's fiancée for traditional Yiddish dishes which Robbie enjoyed eating.

But all of these new changes meant a whole lot more responsibility for Robbie not only as a husband, but as a provider for his soon-to-be bride. A woman from the village had already been employed to assist Cat and Robbie with his grandmother since she was an ageing woman gradually developing arthritis in her limbs. But Robbie knew next to nothing about running an apple farm. So while the women prepared all sorts of things for the wedding at hand, Pat and Rat began teaching Robbie everything he needed to know about running the farm. Cat's father showed Robbie book after book of all the farm's financial accounts while Rat showed Robbie how to pick the apples.

Robbie discovered early on that Rat was an expert apple picker. But Cat's older brother had an uncanny way of picking apples so fast and vigorously that he always inadvertently dropped several apples on top of Robbie in the process, giving the teenage several egg-sized bumps on his head for days on end.

Before Robbie could even blink or panic, the wedding loomed ahead. His best friend Andre, Rat and some of the other lads in the village took him for drinks at the local tavern for his bachelor party. Andre and the tavern's proprietor, Erwin Sikowitz, convinced Robbie that it would be a good laugh to drive an ox-wagon while inebriated. Robbie managed the task for a good mile before driving the oxen into a shallow pond. As he moved to inspect the damage done to the wheels, Robbie promptly fell out of the wagon in a drunken, watery heap, much to the amusement of all his male companions.

Needless to say, it turned out to be a memorable night filled with roaring good fun.

* * *

Robbie awoke on the day of his wedding with bleary eyes and a head filled with cotton due to the drunken frivolities of the night before. But after a bath and a shave, Robbie was soon ready to face the day and with it, the rest of his life.

Despite the fact that this lifelong commitment had been thrust upon him unexpectedly, Robbie recognized the gamble that Patrick and Matilda Valentine had taken in choosing him as their future son-in-law, when other richer and handsomer gentlemen would have made for a more practical match for their lovely daughter.

This made Robbie all the more determined to prove that he was the most suitable husband for Caterina Valentine.

The wedding in itself was a small and private affair held in Northridge Abbey, a small church made entirely out of misshapen and rough stones. They had been gathered painstakingly from Lake Ridgeway that flowed from high up in the mountains down into the valley and then smoothed down with sandpaper till they were soft and cool to the touch.

The inside of the church was draughty and everyone, including the groom, shivered while waiting impatiently for the bride. At least Nana Shapiro had the good sense to arrange for scores of tall candles to be lit throughout the room, cutting through the dull gloom of the chapel with twinkling luminosity. Matilda Valentine had arranged for Cat's favourite flowers, red and white roses, to be strewn generously along the wooden pews of the outer aisle.

The effect was simple, yet regal and Robbie could hardly believe that so much had been done just to ensure that he and Cat would be happy during their nuptials.

Finally, the organist seated at the far end of the room stopped fiddling restlessly with the keys and began playing the traditional wedding march with gusto.

A hush fell over the congregation and Robbie lifted his eyes from the ground as Rat and Minister Eikner stood beside him.

Cat was walking towards, her arm linked through that of her father, who had tears in his eyes.

Her white wedding dress was the most elegant clothing that Robbie had ever laid eyes on.

It resembled many of the dresses he'd seen Cat wear during their courting period. And yet, this dress transcended even the simplest of techniques done with needle and thread. It had soft ruffles stitched with golden thread in a 'V' shape that covered her bodice. Other puffy, white ruffles had been stitched expertly over the dress in a criss-cross pattern. They resembled the shapes of the red and white roses pinned to Cat's red hair that had been braided and pinned together in an intricate halo of refinement.

Even though Cat had just recently celebrated her 17th birthday, Robbie thought that she looked more mature and graceful than most older women that he'd encountered in his lifetime.

Was this exquisite creature really destined to be his bride?

The wedding itself was for all intents and purposes a Christian affair, in keeping with the longstanding traditions of the Northridge community and that of the Valentine Family too. But Robbie chose to adorn his head with a traditional yarmulke which was dark brown with gold stitching worn by Jewish men as a symbol of his own religious upbringing. He also wore a new black suit that fit him much better around the ankles that his grandmother had purchased for his wedding.

His curly black hair was shorter than usual after his grandmother had practically sheared most of it away with a giant pair of scissors that looked like it had been used to shear a sheep prior to this. Cat glanced at the haphazard way in which Robbie's grandmother had cut her soon-to-be-husband's hair earlier that morning and silently promised to give him regular haircuts after they married.

Robbie didn't feel like himself at all that day. He wasn't sure yet if that was a good or bad thing, only that it was very surreal.

Pat let go of Cat's arm and kissed her fondly on the cheek before taking his seat next to Pat in the front row of the church. After that, the bride and groom held each other's hands tentatively throughout the ceremony, from when Minister Eikner had first begun his sermon. They had barely glanced at each other during this time save for when it had been time to say their vows and exchange rings.

Cat's vows were taken directly from Scripture. But the way she said them let Robbie know that she meant every promise she made to him to be a devoted and dutiful wife. Robbie in turn recited some Scripture from the Torah in Hebrew, promising to be a devoted and dutiful husband to Cat. Even though Cat didn't understand what Robbie was saying to her in this part of the ceremony, she'd never heard anything more poetic in her entire life.

And towards the end of the ceremony, Nana Shapiro recited one of the seven blessings from the Sheva Brachot and translated it into English too for the rest of the congregation.

"You are now man and wife," Minister Eikner concluded in a solemn voice. "You are no longer two individuals, but one entity. May death and dreams be the only things that separate you from now on."

Robbie's fingers moved to lift Cat's veil away. Her face was solemn like the minister's, but her eyes remained bright and soothing. He leant forward and laid a soft kiss on her brow to signify their union.

As row upon row of people stood and cheered him and Cat on, Robbie could barely process it all. He was in too much of a state of bewilderment to be properly terrified of the fact that he and Cat were now married.

Was Cat happy? Or was she too suffering from the same sense of surreal wonderment at this dramatic change in their social status?

Still, Cat and Robbie reached for each other again and started smiling as they walked hand in hand together and out of the church as husband and wife.

An hour later, dancing and general wedding merriment had begun by the small pond just a stone's throw away from the church. Children were laughing and playing all around and the adults had taken to frivolous dancing in droves.

Naturally, Robbie and Cat had joined the dancing eventually, if only just to signify to their nearest and dearest that they were now unified as husband and wife.

They danced with hesitance beside each other and around each other, still learning each other's rhythm in more ways than one. It was still bewildering, but oddly pleasant whenever his cool hand made contact with his bride's warmer hand as they spun around each other.

* * *

**Author's Note:**** This was a relatively short chapter, but with a wedding. I hope that was cute for you and not disorienting in any way. **

**Like, 'Let me get this straight: Cat willingly married Robbie and neither money nor bra candy changed hands in the process?' **

**Well, I resent the implication. **

**After seeing Matt Bennett and Ariana Grande together in _Victorious_ and brushing their teeth together in the same sink in _Thank U, Next_, there are several conclusions that must be drawn. **

**First, those two make a tasty couple. **

**And two, Ariana would be the one paying dear Matthew in money or candy just to brush her teeth beside him again. **

**Love the guy on that nose.**

**Tootles! **


	4. Courtship

**Author's Note:**** Greetings, Children of the Corn! I kid, I know you all prefer carrots. **

**I'll see myself out. **

**How does demondreaming make comedy so effortless in her author's notes? **

**I tried to listen to Ariana Grande's scintillating in an interview on Spotify to help me fall asleep last night. But it failed spectacularly because I was too riveted by her eloquence and that husky tenor in her voice. Plus I was laughing so hard at her silly jokes that I hurt my ribs. **

**Damn her and her self-deprecating sense of humour that gives me a metaphorical boner. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Victorious_ or the zany characters in this hilarious show. If I did, Sikowitz would've had more opportunities to eat sandwiches made by his saucy lady friends via video call. **

* * *

The wedding reception seemed to last for hours before Robbie and Cat finally took their leave of their loved ones. A wedding carriage decorated with more red and white rose petals had been prepared just for the occasion and Robbie hastened to help Cat onto the seat beside him as he took the reins, being careful not to let her wedding train become stained with mud and grass.

They travelled mostly in silence back to Cat's family home, which was now hers and Robbie's home. In lieu of the newlywed couple's pending 'wedding night', Nana Shapiro decided not to accompany the bride and groom home that night. Patrick and Matilda kindly invited her to stay with them at their new home that night instead and she gladly accepted.

Which meant that Robbie and Cat would be alone for their first night together as a married couple.

Nana Shapiro and Pat Valentine had already spoken at length with Robbie beforehand about 'the birds and the bees' as well as other marital duties that were expected of him. Even though Robbie had a general idea of what he needed to do, he still had no idea of the best way to approach the evening ahead of them.

The sun had finally set and the cows continued roaming dreamily around the pasture surrounding Valentine Farm.

It was time for the deed to be done.

When Cat locked eyes with her new husband, Robbie finally realized that the pit deep in his stomach was nerves.

It would be not only his first time with Cat, but his first time ever with another soul, and he had no idea what to do.

Was he meant to show his dominance as both a man and husband on his and Cat's first night together? Or was he supposed to ask for her permission first before they began?

They now stood awkwardly in their new bedroom. It had once been Cat's parents' bedroom before this, which didn't seem to put Robbie at ease.

How were they supposed to proceed?

Robbie's skin burned with a feverish intensity and his hands suddenly seemed far too large and awkward as they remained stubbornly at his sides.

Cat eventually made the first move by lowering her dress painstakingly slow from her shoulders to reveal her plush undergarments. She finally shed the entire wedding dress and it pooled around her ankles like a second skin. It took every vestige of bravery in Robbie not to cover his eyes like a little child or look away.

But that's as far as Cat went, moving to the bed and sitting calmly on the edge, her hands pursed together in her lap.

"It's alright, Robbie," she said to Robbie without looking at him. "I know that people outside this house have certain…expectations for us. But neither of us have to do anything that we aren't ready for yet."

Robbie felt a rush of gratitude towards Cat for her considerate words. The feverish burn he'd felt before had now moved deep within his chest as he gazed at her bare shoulders; but for the moment, he didn't want to analyse these bewildering feelings further.

So he nodded in agreement and sat down on the other side of the bed, carefully removing his wedding suit till he sat on the bed wearing his long johns and his undershirt. Cat forced herself not to look away either, just like Robbie had done before when she'd taken off her wedding dress.

When silence fell between them once more, Cat made an unusual request of her husband.

"Would you please sit beside me and help me with my hair? These braids are dreadfully difficult to untie."

That was a lie since Cat was more than capable of undoing her braids by herself. But she wanted the atmosphere between her and her new husband to feel more natural. It would be the first step they would take before they even consummated their marriage and she wanted to take some of the pressure off of both of them.

Robbie felt a little out of his element. But he complied with his wife's request and sat down beside her on the springy mattress. He let his hands move nimbly and hesitantly through her red locks of hair. It took some doing, but he eventually made progress with freeing Cat's hair from their braided chains, every strand feeling like silk between his fingers. Soon, her red hair had formed a curtain that fell down her pale shoulders in wavy rivulets.

Robbie thought then and there that Cat had never looked lovelier than she did in that moment.

"Thank you, Robbie," Cat murmured in a husky tone, sending a secret thrill down Robbie's spine at the intimate nature of it all.

"You're welcome, Cat. We should get some rest now, it's been a long day."

Cat nodded her assent and moved to blow out the candles around their room. They looked at each other as they climbed into the bed, carefully mapping out their sides to sleep on and how much room to leave for the other. And then they lay together on their backs, side by side in the darkness, hardly daring to breathe.

It wasn't the most comfortable night's sleep that either one of them experienced.

But it was the start of something both frightening and wonderful all the same.

* * *

When the roosters crowed first thing the next morning, Robbie expected to feel regret and shame for the night he had spent with his new bride.

Logically, he knew he had nothing to be ashamed of since both he and Cat had mutually agreed not to consummate their marriage the night before.

And yet, Robbie wondered if Cat had any regrets about the celibate night they'd spent together instead. Would she view him differently until they became husband and wife in the proper sense?

He sighed loudly and turned onto his side, readying himself to face his sleeping wife.

What he encountered instead was an empty space beside him.

Cat was already awake? What on Earth could she have been doing before the roosters had even crowed to signify the start of a new day?

Robbie scratched his head in confusion and got out of bed, shivering slightly from the early morning chill.

He put on his slippers and moved slowly down the wooden staircase leading to the first landing of the house.

He heard soft and melodious singing coming from the kitchen. Growing more bewildered, Robbie walked into the cavernous room, the distinct smells of a roaring fire and faint smoke drifting through his nostrils.

Was Cat cooking?

Robbie's suspicions were confirmed when Cat moved to stir and scrape at something in a pot in the far corner of the room. She wore a simple pale pink dress and she had donned an apron that she had tied tightly around her petite waist.

"Cat?"

She turned to face Robbie, surprise and some sort of white dust etched onto her face.

Was that flour? Or had the opium trade begun anew in Northridge after all these years?

"Robbie? I thought you were still sleeping! I hope I didn't disturb you with all the noise I was making," Cat declared in an uneasy voice.

As she spoke, she fussed nervously with a few strands of her red hair that had come loose from the untidy bun she had fashioned when she arose from bed earlier.

Despite his bewilderment, Robbie smiled broadly at Cat. Even now, she was speaking in the softest murmur, and she had been worried about having disturbed him before?

"Not at all," he chided soothingly. "I usually rise this early. But I was worried when I realized you were gone-"

"Oh, I'm sorry about that. Since you have so many things to do on the farm today, I wanted to wake up a little earlier to make you breakfast and a few other treats for lunch." Cat explained in a flash.

She moved back to the pot and scooped some scrambled eggs from inside, dishing it carefully into a ceramic bowl. She deposited this onto the kitchen table and skipped back to the oven. Robbie watched in surprise as his wife put on some oven mitts and lifted a metal tray filled with newly baked treats and placed it beside a rack of toast resting next to the bowl of scrambled eggs.

"You baked scones?" Robbie questioned in awe.

Cat smiled shyly, but nodded all the same. "I made them for later for when you're working outside. But if you would like some now, please help yourself. Another reason I got up earlier was to churn some butter and cream just for the scones. I'll go fetch some strawberry jam from the pantry-"

"I can fetch the jam," Robbie offered unexpectedly. "You've already done so much, why don't you sit and rest for a moment?"

Cat's smile widened all the more and she nodded her thanks as Robbie moved to get the jam from the dark pantry. She was even more pleased when Robbie took two scones from the wicker basket in which Cat had placed them while her husband had gone to fetch the jam. She watched in surprise as Robbie delicately cut both scones in half before spreading generous helpings of butter and the jam which was the same shade of red as Cat's hair. Cat repressed a giggle when Robbie had a little more trouble with adding a dainty dollop of cream to each scone half. And yet, it still warmed her heart when her husband set a plate with two halves of a scone down in front of his bride as they sat down to breakfast together.

All of it was a series of simple actions. And yet, it all seemed perfectly normal and tranquil to both Robbie and Cat.

After eating her scone, Cat took to watching Robbie eating the breakfast she made for him with hearty exuberance. Robbie had to admit that Cat's cooking and baking skills were extraordinary.

He already feared that he was becoming far too comfortable with not the only the idea of a wife who cooked so well for him, but a wife who was exactly like Cat.

"Cat…this has honestly been the most delicious meal that I've had in a long time," Robbie proclaimed.

His long johns already felt too snug on his hips from inhaling a plate of scrambled eggs, toast and Cat's delicious scones.

Cat beamed widely at Robbie and the latter was thankful that it seemed so easy to make his wife happy with only a few words of encouragement.

"Thank you, Robbie. I always cooked for my family ever since I was a little girl. So it feels nice to keep up an old tradition." Cat declared in earnest.

"Well in that case, thank you for including me in your family tradition," Robbie replied, smiling sincerely at his wife. "But I hope you won't feel pressured into cooking like this for me every day. I want you to have time for other things you wish to do too like visiting your friends and your family."

Cat was touched by Robbie's words. She had never expected someone, least of all her new husband, to offer such considerate words to her. Had it been done as a way of thanking her for her own consideration the night before?

A hint of rouge appeared on Cat's cheeks at the implications of what the night before had meant to both her and Robbie. She knew they would eventually have to consummate their marriage and she had no idea who of the two of them should be the one to initiate the first act of intimacy between them. Normally, she would place that burden solely on Robbie's shoulders as her husband and the bread-winner; but despite her upbringing, Cat hoped that hers and Robbie's marriage would at least be more of a partnership than her simply following everything he said and did.

"Cat, are you alright? Your cheeks are flushed." Robbie declared, his dark brown eyes crinkling in concern at his wife's continued silence at the dining room table.

"I-I-I'm fine, just feeling a little hot."

"Alright, if you're sure. Speaking of your cheeks, you still have some flour on them. Here, let me help."

Robbie grabbed a tea towel resting atop the table and moved closer to Cat. It was all she could do not to let out a squeak of pleasure at the way that Robbie dabbed delicately at her nose and cheeks to remove the flour residue from her skin. His actions were so unexpectedly tender, it caused Cat to focus her attention on the way her husband's thick eyebrows curled and the way he bit his bottom lip in concentration while cleaning her face.

Robbie had always been a gentle soul, ever since they had been at school together.

Had she really forgotten that after all these years?

"Robert! Caterina!"

The two newlyweds jumped apart at the sound of Nana Shapiro's voice echoing through the draughty hallway near the front door.

When Nana Shapiro finally found her grandson and his new bride in the kitchen, she couldn't repress the smirk that appeared on her face at their close proximity to each other that she'd witnessed for the barest second.

"Nana, what are you doing here?" Robbie demanded in a huff, feeling strangely irritable about the sudden intrusion.

"I set out early from Mr. and Mrs. Valentine's home before sunrise because I wanted to see you two lovebirds in your natural habitat," Nana Shapiro cooed affectionately.

Robbie scowled at his grandmother's words while Cat blushed faintly in turn.

"There's nothing to see – we were only eating breakfast together!" Robbie fumed defensively.

"I can see that. And you made scones too, Caterina! Aren't you full of surprises?" Nana proclaimed. "And they look edible too…" she murmured in awe while dubiously eyeing a scone in the wicker basket.

"Nana! They're more than edible, they're delicious!"

Cat smiled at Robbie coming to her defense, but hastened to show her husband's grandmother that she wasn't offended in the least by her words.

"It's alright, Robbie, I'm glad you liked my scones. And your grandmother's right – it's so easy to make scones inedible by adding the wrong ingredients."

"See? Caterina isn't offended by little old me, Bubbeleh," Nana Shapiro agreed, giving Robbie a rap on the knuckles just to show him who was boss.

"Of course not, Nana Shapiro. I once made an apple pie completely inedible just by adding the wrong ingredients to it. I baked it for my brother's birthday three years ago. But I got so excited that I accidentally sprinkled cumin instead of cinnamon over the apples while they stewed in the pot! My parents could barely swallow a bite of that horrible pie, but Rat loved it! He said it was the most delicious and spiciest apple pie he'd ever had. He reckons that people in the East Indies eat apple pie exactly like that too…" Cat trailed off dreamily.

Both Robbie and Nana Shapiro stared in confusion at Cat's strange narrative. But Robbie rallied quickly and came to stand beside his wife, laying his hand gently on her shoulder.

"It sounds like you made the perfect apple pie for Rat. That's probably what made his birthday extra special," Robbie said loyally, giving Cat's shoulder affectionate squeeze.

"It sounds like your brother's brain is spicier than that apple pie you made him, Caterina."

"Nana!"

* * *

**Author's**** Note:** **And so it came to pass that Robbie and Cat had a wedding night which contained no foreplay or fornication whatsoever. **

**I suppose I didn't need to bring my saxophone into their bedroom to play them a sexy tune after all. **

**What a wasted effort. **

**Of course I could always wait for the next time that Robbie sensually...undoes Cat's braids from her hair. **

**I know, that part gave me a metaphorical boner too. **

**And speaking of boners, since I couldn't fall asleep listening to Ari's seductive voice last night, the only penance I will accept from her is for her to appear in my dreams tonight and whisk me away on a romantic cruise that she will naturally pay for. **

**I'm an English teacher - of course I have no money to pay for romantic dates. **

**But I do have romantic mood lighting in my apartment. I could always casually invite Ari over and then offer what's left of my 'old lady sweets' in a tin. **

**Tootles! **


	5. Daydreams

**Author's Notes:**** Greetings, Earthlings! A big thank you to my three pals from the Suite Life fandom for being my very first reviewers and likers for this story :-DDD BaronVonMilo, Boris Yeltsin and Invader Johnny, you guys are true homies to a girl who craves validation through her writing. When tough times are stuff and the reviews only come trickling in once every few months, that's when you truly know who's 'ride or die' for you. **

**May your horses birth healthy foals and may your crops be plentiful. **

**Now onto the fifth chapter! **

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own _Victorious _or the zany characters in this hilarious show. But if I did, Sinjin would've liked where it was going whenever Tori dragged him into the janitor's closet. Because Tori would've actually given him a little sugar just once. Sinjin deserves to fly close to that sexy, half-Latina sun and not get burned for his troubles. **

* * *

After that, Robbie and Cat's family life began to take shape.

Now, Robbie woke up early every morning not to rush to the market and perform for the locals with his puppet, but to work in the orchards surrounding Valentine Farm.

It was hard labour for a scrawny teenager close to approaching manhood. But Cat helped Robbie in any and every possible way. Like her brother, Cat was excellent at picking apples, sans injuring her husband with dropping any on his head.

Robbie also discovered that while Cat liked to ramble on with her silly anecdotes from time to time, she surprisingly had a head for numbers too. Whenever they finished their dinner and dusk approached, Cat would often sit with her husband at the dining room table and assist him with balancing their cheque book and settling various accounts in relation to the farm.

There were often occasions where Robbie pretended not to understand how certain farming transactions worked. And this was only because he enjoyed the way that Cat pushed her chair closer to his and rested her dainty hand on his shoulder while glancing at the papers over his shoulder. He liked the way she scrunched her nose and tapped it with a lone finger in deep concentration while running over certain figures in her mind.

And what a beautiful mind it was, along with the rest of her.

Even though Robbie and Cat had hired some farm hands to assist them during harvest time, Pat and Rat also visited the farm as often as possible to lend a helping hand too. When Cat wasn't needed at home, she visited her mother often and frequently called on Victoria Vega and Jadelyn West, her two closest female friends.

The chill of winter in Northridge had gradually morphed into a warm and dewy spring with scores of white and yellow blossoms that nestled on the unadorned branches of trees. When the weather was fine and they had both finished their daily chores, Robbie and Cat often went for evening strolls by the pond near Northridge Abbey. Cat would pack a picnic for the two of them and then they would promptly feed half of it to the ducks who waddled close to their blanket, quacking merrily in their direction.

After finishing their picnic on one particular occasion, Robbie and Cat laid down on their backs on the blanket they'd brought along. They took to staring at the Northridge sky which resembled a pale blue bird's egg mottled with graying clouds.

Cat had some unusual ideas about what shapes she could ascertain from each cloud.

"That one looks like an arrow," she remarked in a pensive voice.

Robbie squinted his eyes in concentration and stared at the cloud in question. "No it doesn't, it's much too round at the edges and bulgy around the middle," he contended, unable to see his wife's perspective at all.

"Of course it's an arrow," Cat persisted in an obstinate voice. "It's embedded in that second cloud to the right which looks like a blobby, impaled banker."

"Blobby?" Robbie questioned, the word unfamiliar to him. "The second cloud is a banker? But why would he be impaled by an arrow?"

"That part's obvious," Cat declared.

Robbie waited impatiently for her to elaborate and grew concerned when she didn't do so immediately.

"And? How is it obvious?"

In answer to this, Cat rolled onto her stomach to face Robbie. She plucked at a stray tendril of wild grass and began chewing on it thoughtfully as she spoke.

"Some branches of the Chumash Indians still live in the county, and Daddy says they are quite hostile to strangers, especially Spaniards. So it makes perfect sense for an arrogant and greedy banker to waltz into the deserts beyond Northridge unprotected and unawares with a claim to mine gold in this area; it was done 10 years ago; most greedy people are impervious to important things like which territories have already been claimed by the locals and finding good places for grazing their cattle with a sufficient water source. It would only be a matter of time before a greedy banker like that got shot with an arrow for his ignorance." Cat concluded with what Robbie deemed an air of simplicity for such a complex sociopolitical issue.

Cat blushed profusely when Robbie continued staring at her wordlessly after her explanation. "What?"

"You're incredible," Robbie breathed in awe. "I had no idea you knew so much about the Indians in this area."

"Oh, I love reading about Indians all over the Americas!" Cat gushed unexpectedly. "When I was a little girl, I wished that a band of Indians would kidnap me and make me the queen of their tribe…" she trailed off, a dreamy look in her light brown eyes.

"O-k…" Robbie answered, unsure of how to interpret such a fantasy. "But wait, why is the banker cloud blobby? And what does 'blobby' even mean?" he asked on a sudden whim.

"Blobby means he's fat," Cat answered without hesitation.

"Ok. But what makes the banker blobby?"

"Easy: he's too busy thinking of increasing his gold to take regular exercise."

Robbie let out a laugh at Cat's unusual logic, which somehow made perfect sense when she explained it in full. Gazing up at the cloudy sky made the scrawny teenager think of another pressing errand that needed to be attended to.

"Before I forget, we should head to the postmaster. I have a few urgent letters that need to be sent off right away."

"Oh, do you mean the stack of letters you left on the dining room table? I took them to the postmaster yesterday while you were examining the well," Cat replied. "That reminds me: Jadelyn sent me a letter which I have yet to read."

With that, the red-haired girl produced a slightly crumpled envelope she'd hidden within her corset. Robbie would've commented further on this unusual hiding spot if it hadn't been for the fact that the envelope Cat held in her hand was black.

Then again, for anyone who knew Jadelyn's unpleasant personality, the colour of her envelopes wouldn't have been a surprise in the least. Robbie inwardly shuddered at the thought of Cat's best friend, who hadn't taken a liking to him at all.

Robbie acknowledged that she was a beautiful woman with raven black hair and eyes that resembled blue, shimmering crystals. But he simply could not shake the feeling that Jadelyn's very soul was blacker than her hair.

And her envelopes.

She was a lady only in the way she dressed. As for the rest, she said whatever crass and unfiltered thought crossed her mind and reacted violently whenever anyone dared to challenge or antagonize her.

"Wonderful," Robbie said untruthfully, his sarcasm being lost on Cat for the moment. "What news does Jadelyn have for you?"

Cat read through the contents of the letter silently for several minutes before she finally answered her husband's question.

"Mr. West is having a luncheon next Sunday after the church service and Jadelyn has cordially invited us to rescue her from her father's insufferable speeches on 'the rightful place of women in the kitchen'," Cat explained, giggling slightly at her friend's way of expressing her disdain for her father's traditionalist viewpoints about the fairer sex.

"I suppose it would be nice for you to go," Robbie remarked in a thoughtful manner. "And should I accompany you, I'd better be on the lookout for any and all sharp objects that Jadelyn enjoys keeping close to her person…" he added darkly.

He recalled a rather unpleasant incident at the West's home where a visiting professor from Northridge Academy had made untoward advances towards Jadelyn. She returned the favour by snatching her mother's dressmaking scissors that had been resting precariously atop a credenza in the library and plunged it deep into the man's thigh in retaliation.

Before then, Robbie never knew that a man could scream in such a high-pitched manner…

Cat blushed crimson, recalling the exact same memory as Robbie in that moment. "Professor Kerne was exceptionally lucky that the doctor didn't have to amputate his leg in the end after all that blood loss…Still, Jadelyn has promised her father to refrain from stabbings in any form so long as his male acquaintances keep their hands far away from her person." She concluded succinctly.

"Well, I suppose that is a fair compromise," Robbie agreed, leaning over his wife to take an apple from the picnic basket which he ate quite happily.

"Does that mean you will accompany me to my dear friend's luncheon, Mr. Shapiro?" Cat asked of Robbie, batting her eyelids so innocently that her husband didn't dare to believe in its sincerity.

She only seemed to use her prowess for innocence in moments when she wanted things to go her way.

And since his wife never asked for much of him, Robbie was inclined to give Cat exactly what she wanted when she wanted it.

"There's nowhere else I would rather go, Mrs. Shapiro," Robbie replied with sincerity.

On impulse, he grabbed Cat's hand and kissed her knuckles so tenderly afterwards that Cat's face turned scarlet against the backdrop of the waning sunlight.

* * *

**Author's Note:**** This was a relatively short chapter. But hopefully it illustrated some of Cat's whimsical imagination and a fluffy moment between her and Robbie as they grow more comfortable with each other and their married dynamic :-) But what madness and mayhem will ensue next chapter at the West's Garden Party? And how will scissors factor into the equation this time around? **

**The days grow longer and more boring as the Corona virus spreads throughout China. Thank you so much for the well-wishes from my reviewers. I have enough food, drinks and jokes to last me for the rest of the month before Pay Day arrives next week. After that, I'll hopefully be going home for a few weeks to escape the throes of potential death - I mean, visit my dear and loving family. **

**I would never trick my family into letting me come home just so I don't die painfully from a disease. ****That would be ludicrous and dishonest. ****Then again, my parents might have created a false Wikipedia page about the Corona virus just to get me home anyway, so I guess we're even. **

**Of course I'm joking about that fake Wikipedia page. The virus is real and all of you in the big wide world must please take care of your health. **

**And not only because I want reviews. That's implicit in all of my ramblings. **

**I really do care about all of you :-) **

**Now to nurture my cabin fever more by eating McDonalds in bed and making romantical googley eyes at Cat Valentine and her derpy smile on Netflix. **

**It is very derpy, and yet so bloody alluring...**

**Tootles!**


	6. Covetously

**Author Note:**** Hello, Shoppers! Wanko's Warehouse is having another sale - only 80% off, including bins big enough to place over your head and make a break for it if you accidentally trip the alarms after hours. **

**And Cat Valentine's smile remained derpy throughout that entire episode of season 3 _Victorious_. **

**Seriously, how did Ariana Grande play such a ditzy character for years without popping Advil for severe headaches? I mean, let's be honest: Cat is a damn snacc, but she is 'dangerously stupid' in Freddie Benson terms. **

**Speaking of snaccs, Nathan Kress is the munchiest one of the lot. And he's finally of age, so I no longer feel like a paedophile when I think about his buff arms. **

**It's a great time to be alive. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Victorious_ or the zany characters in this hilarious show. But if I did, I would ask Ariana Grande how she managed to keep Cat's derpy smile in place for several seconds at a time during scenes without getting a serious case of lock jaw. **

* * *

The day of the luncheon at the West's home finally arrived.

Cat and Robbie arrived half an hour after the festivities had begun. Since Robbie was encountering Jadelyn on her home turf, he'd decided to make more of an effort to dress immaculately that afternoon. He wasn't sure how wearing a suit that was more tailored to him than usual was going to win Cat's friend over to his side, but he decided that it couldn't possibly hurt his chances.

The dining room was packed to the rafter with party guests, streams of rainbow lights shimmering over their jovial laughter from the gigantic, crystal chandelier that hung overhead. A string quartet had been installed in the corner of the large room beside an impressive black grand piano, playing a jaunty version of one of Beethoven's symphonies.

The West's vast wealth had always intimidated Robbie a great deal, as did many rich and impressive people. But he was here to escort Cat and he would do try his hardest not to embarrass her in front of her friends.

Robbie heaved a sigh of relief when he was greeted first by Victoria Vega, who was Cat's kinder best friend in comparison. She was a lively girl with sun-kissed skin, long, golden brown hair and the loveliest cheekbones that Robbie had ever seen on another woman before. She wore a striking dress which flowed around her petite frame in streams of royal blue as she charmed everyone around her with her dazzling smile and sensational wit.

"Robbie! How lovely to see you!" Victoria, who liked being called 'Tori' by her intimate friends, gushed aloud.

Robbie was always caught a little off guard when Victoria abandoned social graces and hugged him affectionately in public. With that said, the gesture was still quite delightful in its own way and showed a higher degree of familiarity and acceptance than Jadelyn had ever shown him.

"Tori, it's lovely to see you too! You look ravishing as always," Robbie complimented, not knowing where his sudden confidence came from.

Perhaps it was Cat's subtle influence that had wrought this unexpectedly positive change in him.

"Flatterer," Tori quipped, but with a wide smile on her face. "You're looking exceedingly well! Someone is enjoying Cat's cooking," she teased, poking Robbie playfully in the sides.

"That he is," Cat agreed, smirking at her best friend, who she soon enveloped in a similarly affectionate hug.

"You're both looking well and happier together than I've ever seen you when you've been apart," Tori noted, a knowing twinkle in her light brown eyes.

Robbie and Cat glanced at each other for the briefest moment before turning away hastily, their cheeks tinted with rouge. Those actions weren't lost on Tori and she smiled all the more at how smitten her friend had become with her husband in a short space of time.

And all without having consummated their marriage yet.

Tori's mind boggled with the possibilities…

"Well, we are certainly quite compatible with each other," Cat offered in what she hoped was a nonplussed voice, ignoring her heart hammering loudly in her chest.

"Nauseatingly so, I would say."

Robbie whipped around and had to stop himself from squeaking in fright at Jadelyn, who had materialized out of thin air right behind him.

She scared him immensely.

"Jade!" Cat gushed.

The raven-haired beauty allowed herself to be hugged and pawed at by her best friend before stepping artfully away from all that disgusting affection.

"So happy you both could make it," Jade greeted with a tight smile on her pale face.

"The pleasure is all ours, Miss West," Robbie greeted in a polite, albeit nervous voice.

"Robert, I've told you many times to call me 'Jadelyn'. After all, you are Cat's husband; we're all friends here. We know so much about each other now," Jade declared, her smile becoming less forced and more sadistic somehow.

"W-w-we do? What have you heard?" Robbie demanded suspiciously in a loud squawk, which made Cat furrow her eyebrows in bewilderment at her husband's sudden nervousness.

"Leave him be, Jade," Tori chided while laying a soothing hand on her friend's pale arm.

"Don't touch me, unless you delight in being stabbed with something sharp," Jade warned Tori.

"Oh hush! You would sooner stab me than stab the postman who delivers the special paper for your poetry," Tori teased.

"You write poetry?" Robbie questioned in awe, hardly daring to believe that Jade West was capable of human emotions suggesting vulnerability in any form.

"For the last time, it is not poetry! It is satire," Jade huffed indignantly.

"Of course it is," Cat agreed readily. "It's rather good, Robbie. I wish Jade was brave enough to show it to you," she said in an aside to her husband.

"I'd rather stab myself instead," Jade scoffed, rolling her eyes dramatically for effect.

"If you'd be so kind," Robbie muttered under his breath, thanking his lucky stars that Jade hadn't heard him.

She usually had the ears of a bloodhound.

"I know why Jade's in a complete tizzy today," Tori proclaimed. "It's because her parents invited Beckett Oliver to lunch today."

"Really? I had no idea he was visiting," Cat confessed.

Robbie remembered Beckett from their schooling days. He'd been an alright sort of chap, but they hadn't been pals in any sense. Last he'd heard, Beckett had gone to Canada after completing his schooling in Northridge and attended the University of Toronto to pursue a degree in something or another. Beckett came from a rich family, so it hardly mattered what he had studied at university.

"I suppose it would be nice to see Beck again," Jade admitted with what was meant to be indifference, but which didn't fool anyone in the least. Beckett Oliver was the only man known to everyone present that could turn Jadelyn West from an ice queen into a melting puddle of sickly sweetness.

Soon after this, Cat took Robbie's hand and they made their way outside into the West's illustrious garden. The air was less suffocating than the overcrowded dining room they'd just been standing in. Robbie inhaled a succulent breath of fresh air into his starved lungs.

Some of the party guests had adjourned here, sitting on modern-looking wicker chairs and recliners with flutes of wine in their hands as they held avid discussions together. A gorgeous fountain rested in the middle of the garden with its array of pink azaleas and mulberry bushes. The fountain itself was made of pewter, water gurgling tranquilly on the first level and spewing merrily from the mouth of a sculpture of Cupid; the mischievous infant stood balancing on one chubby leg, taking aim with a pewter arrow which was pricked your finger when you touched it.

Cat and Robbie found Beck reclining lazily on one of the reclining sofas, sipping languidly from a glass filled with amber liquid. He was dressed impeccably in a light grey suit with a short black tie tailored to his lanky, but tall form. His dark brown hair was unnaturally long, but trimmed neatly around the edges and framed to fit his handsome, tanned face exceedingly well.

Robbie felt irritated with the longing looks that several unmarried (and some married) women in the near vicinity threw Beck in his peripheral vision, which the latter appeared to be ignorant of. But Robbie wasn't entirely sure.

Could one really trust a man that handsome?

After he and Cat began reacquainting themselves with Beck, Robbie soon realized why he and the man hadn't been good friends before.

At first glance, Beck appeared to be a calm and agreeable sort of fellow. But upon closer inspection, Robbie realized far too late just how much Beck complained and then bragged about one thing or another.

"I wish I knew a thing about farming. But father always has me occupied with the horse races. They're frightfully boring, but the champagne and caviar _certainly_ make up for any dullness I suffer!"

"The girls in Toronto are so much livelier than the ones here in Northridge. Admittedly, our Northridge girls are far prettier, but those Toronto girls _certainly_ do know how to have a smashing good time!"

"The Marquis of Paris is an old family friend! He drinks like a fish, but he _certainly_ has gold coins to spare for every disreputable tavern that we visit along the Champs Elysée during Mardis Gras every year!"

"This American Scotch that Mr. West is serving will _certainly_ do well in a pinch if you don't have a more European bottle at the ready!"

At the end of every single statement, Beck made a point of laughing in a way that didn't ring true for Robbie's judgmental ears.

Robbie idly wondered how it was possible for the man to use the word 'certainly' in every single sentence he made.

When he finally shook hands with the man, Robbie was relieved to note that Beck resembled more of a normal human being who conversed politely with him and what he'd been up to in recent years.

But his relief was short-lived when Beck's brown eyes alighted salaciously on Cat's sumptuous figure while she wore a white dress with a print of lilac flowers cascading down her chest.

"This can't be Caterina Valentine!" Beck proclaimed.

To Robbie's horror, the taller man got up from his lounging position and approached his wife, stooping his head to lightly kiss her knuckles. Cat seemed pleased by Beck's gallantry, but not overtly charmed by the man himself, which seemed to mollify Robbie for the time being.

"It's so good to see you again, Beckett," Cat greeted in a courteous voice.

"Believe me, the pleasure is all mine, Miss Valentine," Beck declared with gusto, curling his lips into a small smile that had made many a maiden swoon over his absurdly good looks.

"She's Mrs. 'Shapiro' now," Robbie couldn't help saying. "We married a few months ago."

"Married?" Beck questioned in astonishment, looking genuinely perplexed by this sudden news.

"Sadly, it's true," Jade supplied drolly, which made Robbie scowl at her.

"Well, this is both wonderful and decidedly amusing to say the least," Beck returned, a smirk plastered on his face. "Nevertheless, the happy couple has my sincerest congratulations."

While Cat smiled happily, Robbie's eyes narrowed when Beck tipped his glass of Scotch in their direction. He knew full well that Beck wasn't being sincere at all and this irked him terribly.

After these painful introductions, Robbie retired to the claustrophic dining area, brooding in a moody stance for most of the luncheon while his best friend Andre tried to cheer him up.

"Don't mind Beck, you know how he can be at social gatherings," Andre chided, patting his friend's shoulder in a gesture of comfort.

"I do know, and he's an insufferable snob as always," Robbie muttered, fidgeting relentlessly with his bow-tie for the umpteenth time.

"He's harmless, and clearly filled with envy because you married one of the best girls in Northridge," Andre declared in earnest.

He watched as his best friend's face transformed into a warm smile while thinking of his bride.

But Robbie caught himself in time and frowned speculatively. "You know that I care deeply about Cat, Andre. But you also know that our marriage isn't exactly a traditional one," he added with some difficulty on the last part.

Robbie had told his friend a few weeks ago about the state of his and Cat's marital relations. What he hadn't expected was how supportive his friend would be without giving any judgements of his own.

"That may be so, but you are still married to her. And anyone with eyes can see how deeply she cares for you too, my friend." Andre said with sudden gravity.

Robbie was glad for his friend's words, his black mood lifting completely at the mention of his beautiful wife.

Where was she anyway?

Perhaps he could salvage what was left of this miserable luncheon and find time to share a dance or two with her.

Just then, a loud crash could be heard which came from the garden and Tori came walking rapidly towards Andre and Robbie with a tight smile on her face.

"You gents had better come quickly," she said in a flash, looking positively disturbed. "Beckett has had far too much to drink and he's behaving abominably. Cat is trying to get him to see reason."

At the mention of his wife, Robbie raced ahead of Andre and Tori. If Beck was behaving foolishly while inebriated, the last thing he wanted was for Cat to injure herself getting caught in a drunken scuffle.

Sure enough, Beck was raving about something or another in the garden. But he was now standing on top of a wide tileed slab on the base of the pewter fountain, swaying dangerously back and forth with a half-full glass of Scotch in his hands. If he kept at it, he was likely to fall head-first into the water below.

Robbie caught sight of Cat inching towards the fountain as far as her dress would allow her. She was trying to avoid having Scotch sloshed from Beck's glass onto her clothing while trying to coax him back to safety at the same time.

"Beck, please come down from there at once!" Cat ordered in what was meant to be an authoritative voice.

"I will only come down if you ask me nicely, Cat," Beck slurred, winking salaciously at the red-head.

"What an imbecile. I wish the photographer hadn't already left…" Jade trailed off with what sounded like real regret.

How else was she to document Beck's foolish behavior to savour at a later date?

"Cat! Step away from Beck, Andre and I will handle this," Robbie said more curtly than he intended.

In truth, he was very anxious about anything happening to Cat and it was beginning to show on his strained features as he took off his blazer and rolled up the sleeves on his dress shirt.

"Beck, stop being a fool and come down from there," Andre complained, inching around the other side of the fountain to get closer to his drunk companion.

"No words from any man shall persuade me from my current position. Only the lips of a beautiful woman can move me at any given time!" Beck proclaimed, teetering dangerously forward now.

"Beckett, my dear, please come down from there before you do yourself serious injury!" Mrs. West called out beseechingly. "Do something!" she hissed in her husband's direction.

"How can I, my darling? I am wearing my most expensive cuff links; water will damage them!" Mr. West protested.

"Alright, I have decided!" Beck exclaimed. "I will come down if Caterina agrees to let me kiss her on the cheek!"

"What on Earth?" Andre and Tori asked in unison.

"That's out of the-"

"Alright, I agree, Beck. But first, you must come down from there." Cat interjected, cutting Robbie off mid-rant.

Robbie gazed in disbelief at his wife. Cat shot him a look out of the corner of her eye, which was meant to convey to her husband that he was meant to trust her and let things carry on in this regard.

Beck smiled jauntily and hopped off the fountain as easily as if he was sober. Cat smiled encouragingly at the taller man, hoping that her compliance with this absurd situation would get Beck to see reason quicker.

But Beck clearly had other ideas when he grasped Cat firmly by the wrist and swept down on her without warning. Robbie watched in muted horror when the taller, tanned man with his irksome. wavy jet black hair grabbed the red-haired beauty's waist a little too hard and kissed her forcefully. Cat let out an alarmed squeak when Beck pressed himself harder into her, enveloping her senses with the acrid taste of Scotch on his tongue as his hands wandered abrasively over her chest and sides.

Then she felt a gust of wind kiss her exposed skin where Beck had been encased all around her a second before. Robbie had yanked Beck away from her and spun him around to face him. Cat paled at the look of demented rage on Robbie's face; it was a look she had never seen before nor wanted to see again on his face.

Robbie made a sudden fist and swung forward, punching Beck as hard as he could on the cheek. But it seemed to have made no impression whatsoever. It only knocked Beck backwards a fraction of an inch. The taller of the two men smirked dangerously before he punched Robbie in the eye. The action sent Robbie flying onto his back, his left eye swelling rapidly with searing pain.

"Robbie!" Cat cried out in horror, running in her husband's direction while he writhed in agony on the grass.

Andre leapt forward and punched Beck in the stomach, which seemed to slow him down for the barest moment.

"Dammit! That was my piano-playing hand!" Andre lamented, clutching his right hand in agony as well. He wasn't a fighting man by nature – why had no one ever told him how much punches really hurt?

Before Beck could do any further damage, a crash sounded behind him and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Everyone watched in astonishment as Beck crumpled forward onto his knees before keeling over into unconsciousness. The source of the crash and Beck's sudden inertia came from the fact that Jade had hit him over the head with one of her mother's prized porcelain vases, the pieces shattering and breaking in every direction.

"Jadelyn! Not again!" Mr. West roared indignantly.

"My vase!" Mrs. West cried, shedding what looked like real, anguished tears.

"You're welcome, everyone," Jade replied in a sardonic tone. "And now I hate you even more for making me do that to Beck and his gorgeous head," she added malevolently at Robbie.

Cat looked mutinous at her best friend's words while Robbie clutched the injured part of his face, staring in disbelief at Jade with his good eye instead.

* * *

Needless to say, many of the guests at the West's luncheon dispersed quickly after that embarrassing spectacle, including the Shapiros.

Cat insisted on taking the reins and leading the horses even though there was nothing wrong with Robbie's hands. He tried to speak to Cat multiple times during the long ride home, but he was met with stony silence each time while his wife urged the horses to gallop faster.

When they arrived back at Valentine Farm close to 8 o'clock that night, Cat brought the horses to a stop in front of the barn before hopping off the front seat. Robbie watched in dismay as his wife jogged towards the front door without a backwards glance.

He sighed and put the horses and the carriage securely in the barn before going after Cat.

He soon found out why she'd been in a hurry. She had lit several candles in the kitchen and had brought forward an old but clean dish rag and a handful of other items used for medicinal purposes for his eye and hand.

"Sit," she said in an ominously cool voice, pointing to a chair by the kitchen table.

Robbie obeyed and waited a few more minutes in suspenseful silence while Cat heated some water which she brought forth too.

She pushed another chair noisily in front of Robbie, which she then sat down in. After placing the bowl of hot water on the kitchen table and mixing an infusion of herbs into it, she dipped part of the rag into the water. Then she moved forward and began dabbing gently at Robbie's eye and hands, which had several bloody cuts and bruises on them.

The herb and water concoction worked as a natural disinfectant, which began stinging mercilessly after several seconds.

"Ow, ow! Ooh, it burns," Robbie whined pitiably.

Cat rolled her eyes and continued cleaning Robbie's small wounds. "If you don't like being in pain, then you probably shouldn't have fought with Beck," she snapped.

"Are you really upset with _me_ right now? Beck was the one who behaved appallingly!" Robbie fumed in exasperation.

"In case you didn't notice, I was handling things before you acted like a complete barbarian!"

"Oh yes, I saw how well you were handling things – with Beckett's lips pressed closely to yours!"

That remark stung far more than the disinfectant and Robbie regretted it instantly when Cat's face fell at his words. She stopped tending to his cuts and dropped the rag onto the kitchen table.

"Do you honestly think I wanted that to happen?" Cat asked in a quiet voice.

"Of course not," Robbie said in a flash.

"Because I didn't, not even for a second. It was awful," Cat continued, her brown eyes looking decidedly moist with unshed tears.

"I know, and I'm dreadfully sorry that happened to you. Why do you think I acted like a barbarian the minute I saw Beck grab you? Did he hurt you?"

"Robbie, I'm fine-"

He ignored Cat's protests and took her right wrist in his hand where Beck had grabbed her earlier that afternoon. Cat's breath stilled at how gentle Robbie was being, tracing his index and middle fingers soothingly over the knobbly bones in her wrist while checking for any lingering damage.

"It can't hurt nearly as much as your face does right now," Cat murmured, a small smile painted on her lovely face as she inspected the black and blue bruise forming all around Robbie's left eye.

"Beck should take some boxing lessons from me," Robbie protested with feigned bravado. "My eye doesn't hurt at all," He huffed, which made Cat giggle.

"Are you sure? Beck's quite famous for the boxing tournaments he competed in at the University of Toronto."

Robbie paled at this piece of information. "Boxing tournaments? No wonder my body's in agony right now," he confessed morosely before he could stop himself.

"Well, let's see if I can make it hurt a little less," Cat whispered serenely.

She grabbed hold of a glass jar filled with a thick, white cream. She scooped some onto her fingers and began spreading it evenly over Robbie's eye and on his right hand where he had punched Beck. The cream was terribly cold on his skin, but within seconds, it had the desired result of warming and numbing the swollen bumps that had formed on Robbie's skin where he'd been hit and fallen.

And best of all was that Cat did all these things with the gentlest of ministrations.

She was quite unlike any woman that Robbie had ever met before.

Caterina was an unequivocal marvel.

"Please don't be too upset with Beck." Cat urged Robbie while retrieving a plain white rag to wrap around his right hand.

"How can I not be upset with him, Cat? He behaved horribly to you today! He tarnished your reputation as a woman. He also could've hurt you very badly," Robbie said with an urgency of his own.

"But he didn't, because you were there. And so was Andre and Jade," Cat chided in a soothing voice. She surprised Robbie by cupping his cheeks gently in her hands and staring deeply into his eyes. "Yes, Beck behaved very foolishly today. But you didn't see what happened right before he became roaringly drunk. He was trying to converse with his father about a prospective investment he wanted to finance with the inheritance he received from his grandfather ten years before. His father was very dismissive of his ideas and it might've hurt Beck's ego a great deal. I think that Beck must feel very sad and troubled sometimes," she admitted in a low voice.

"But he comes from one of the richest families in all of California! What could he possibly have to complain about?" Robbie questioned seriously.

"That's just it, my darling," Cat began, surprising Robbie yet again with the unexpected term of endearment; one of her hands left his cheek and rested on his shoulder instead while she spoke. "All that money must come with so many obligations and expectations, some which Beck might not even be ready for. It must be terribly burdensome to fail in the eyes of a parent time and time again." She ended off, looking genuinely sad for her old school mate.

"I never thought of it that way," Robbie remarked in a pensive voice. "You really are an overflowing fountain of compassion, Caterina Valentine," he added while staring in rapture at his wife.

"Let's never speak of fountains again after this dreadful day," Cat complained, which made Robbie laugh heartily in response.

"I concur. And because of your wise words, I will do my best to forgive Beck and think better of him from now on." Robbie promised, startled that he meant every word.

"There's the man that I lov-married," Cat murmured, blushing just a little for some unknown reason.

Robbie's face grew serious once more while he thought about everything that had transpired.

"What is it, Robbie?"

"Cat…I really am sorry that I behaved just as terribly as Beck today. I don't know what came over me; everything that Beck said and did all afternoon just…vexed me for some reason. And when he grabbed you, I lost my mind completely."

"I know the feeling," Cat said after a moment's pause. She elaborated further when Robbie stared at her with evident curiosity. "I lost my mind too when Beck hit you and you fell onto the ground. If you hadn't been alright, I don't know what I would've done," she whispered urgently, a lone tear finally escaping her eye and falling down her cheek.

"Cat…" Robbie whispered in dismay, hating how broken she looked in that moment.

He scraped his chair noisily across the floor as he moved closer to her. He hesitated ever so slightly before resting his hands on the edges of her knees, careful not to make her uncomfortable.

"Nothing bad happened to me, I'm fine. I promise that I won't let my temper get the best of me like that again. Nothing bad is going to happen to me; I will always be here to protect you."

Cat's tears stilled at Robbie's words and she gazed at him with something akin to wonder shining in her brown eyes. Before Robbie could blink, Cat had left her chair and launched herself into her husband's arms. She draped her hands possessively around his neck and practically straddled him while hugging him tight.

Robbie was shocked by her actions. After letting it sink in that Cat was touching him in such an obviously affectionate manner, he repaid the favour by moving his hands from her knees and around her back while hugging her too.

She was so tiny in comparison to him, but filled with warmth which eased his cold and shivering body. He ran his hands soothingly up and down her back, eliciting several hushed murmurs of pleasure from Cat. She was very much like her name-sake: purring softly at the close contact of another mammal, comforting her when she needed it most.

Cat moved away from Robbie so suddenly that he worried he had done something to offend her. Instead, Cat shifted her weight ever so slightly so she could gaze deeply into her husband's eyes.

It was almost as if she was looking for something specific that only she could see within Robbie; something which would inherently solve all the mysteries of her complex feelings for him.

With her arms still around his neck, Cat leant forward and brushed her mouth tentatively over his, gasping slightly at his cool, thin lips that were suddenly scalding her senses. She finally cast aside the implications of what she was doing and pressed her mouth more firmly against Robbie's.

And then they were kissing and letting the rest of the world around them fade away with every touch of their hands locking around each other.

Robbie had only kissed one girl before this and that had been an awkward encounter in grade school years ago. But with Cat, he felt no sense of clumsiness at all. Her kisses were confident and reassuring, as if her mouth and her body were meant to slot perfectly into his all along. It made him wonder for a split second why she was so good at kissing, but he quelled the thought instantly. He didn't want to know if she had kissed anyone before this.

Because right now, she was his and he wanted her with every fibre of his being.

His hands moved from her back to clutch at her arms, being careful not to grab her sore wrist. He just needed something to hold himself steady in the process. Cat was invading every part of him now: his closed eyes which could only see her; his nose being flooded with the sweet, floral perfume she'd bathed her body in hours before; his body tightening with overwrought need from the unforeseen fire she'd stoked deep inside of him; his lips that ached to taste her again and again till she begged him to do more than simply kiss her.

It was all too much, and still not enough simultaneously.

It was all that Robbie could do to hold Cat even closer so she wouldn't disappear from his side altogether.

Cat's lips left Robbie's for the briefest second to emit a gasp of ecstasy before she dove back in again. Robbie's hands leapt from her sides to her back and upwards to course through her hair as he kissed her with mounting passion. He tugged at every crimson strand just enough to let Cat know who had possession of her heart now and it made her breath hitch in her throat with sudden want for the man beneath her.

In all of this, he was still being very careful with her, unlike Beck earlier that afternoon. Where Beck had gripped simply to conquer and dominate, Robbie touched her with curiosity and devotion, wanting nothing more than to be a vessel for her every delight and desire.

Cat got a secret thrill from this tender side of Robbie's personality. It fueled her, making her hands and her lips even bolder as the seconds ticked by. She traced his cool skin with the delicate strokes of her fingertips, creating a unique pattern of ardour over his arched cheek bones, being extra careful not to touch his injured eye in the process. Her kisses were slow, but urgent, sending a silent message into the universe that only Robbie could answer.

Robbie only broke away from Cat's lips one more time after this. When Cat's hands sank lower onto his shoulder with her fingernails digging into his skin through his shirt, Robbie realized he wanted to do more than just kiss his wife's lips. He continued his exploration of her upper body by dusting his lips along the shell of her ear, peppering small kisses across her cheeks, grazing his teeth over her soft jaw, and moving lower still to trace his tongue gently over the ridges of her collarbones.

Cat whimpered in pleasure at Robbie's ministrations, bunching parts of his shirt in her hands as she laid some kisses of her own across Robbie's forehead and temples. If only they'd both been ready to do all of this on their first night together as a married couple.

But she couldn't think like that anymore. All she wanted was this moment and for Robbie to keep kissing her till she swooned in his arms. And that's exactly what she did when she lifted her neck away from Robbie's insistent mouth just to connect their lips together again in a frenzied, alluring sonata of hearts uniting through physical desire.

Breathing was no longer a necessity, but a passing, errant thought, as they kept kissing till the wax on the candles grew shorter as they blazed dimly in the kitchen.

* * *

**Author's Note:**** Robbie and Cat finally made out, 1850s style. Witheth tongueth.**

**Now that was a great time to be alive, for Cat and Robbie at least. If they were really there in Northridge or even in a dream state. **

**Has anyone else figured out what's happened in the story yet? **

**If you do, please feel free to tell me because I'm certain I still don't know :-P **

**Tootles!**


	7. Desiderate

**Author**** Note:** **Good evening, Tributes! I am slightly worried that China might soon become a giant staging area for the newest version of _The Hunger Games_ if this Corona virus gains any more traction. I've seen advertisements for some very strange face masks because of the high demand and lack of supply. **

**I wonder if people here in China will start looking like they're committing to some dedicated cosplay with some of these strange face masks and headgear. **

**Maybe I can also cover myself with a filter face mask and top that with a cut out of Ariana Grande's face. I feel like her aura will give me the greatest sense of protection and well-being during these trying times. **

**Perhaps I can enlist Robbie Shapiro's help. He did make those giant cardboard cutouts of _Flirty Cats _after all. **

**On second thought, I think I'll skip wearing a face mask and just put a giant cutout of Ariana Grande in front of my body at all times while I'm outside. **

**Yes, I think this will work very well to protect me from illness. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Victorious_ or the zany characters from this hilarious show. The only things I own or have appropriated are the changes in prepositions used in my story disclaimers. And the new expressions I've created recently, like 'banana bread crazy', which was loosely appropriated from the term 'bananas' which means 'crazy'. So I guess I don't own anything after all. Drat. **

* * *

Nothing else happened that night save for Cat and Robbie exchanging several, sultrier kisses in the kitchen. They finally pulled away from each other and Cat had then led Robbie slowly by the hand to their bedroom to sleep and rest after the frightful day they'd had together. Somewhere in the middle of the night, they had gotten tangled up in each other. And when the rooster crowed the next morning, Robbie awoke with his arms around Cat's back and her head nestled in his neck as they lay together on their sides.

She hadn't woken earlier than sunrise to make them breakfast.

Robbie couldn't fault her. She must've been exhausted after dealing with Beck's drunken antics and tending to his cuts and bruises afterwards.

The memory of the kisses they'd shared before stirred lustful thoughts in Robbie's mind. But he quelled those desires for the time being and took to running his fingers soothingly through Cat's velvety red hair, enjoying the tender sensations they brought out in him.

Cat woke up soon after that, purring gently at the way that Robbie was touching her. It was innocent, and yet so satisfying that she struggled not to leap on him a second time and kiss him some more.

So she settled for getting up unceremoniously from bed and hurrying to prepare breakfast for the two of them.

Their morning meal was a little tense and awkward at first with Cat bustling around the cavernous kitchen. But Robbie let her be, not wanting to force Cat into acknowledging and confronting what had happened between them the night before.

He himself wasn't sure of his own feelings either. He had certainly enjoyed kissing and touching Cat in new ways last night. But he had no idea what any of it meant and how much more he was meant to do when it came to the art of seduction. He also didn't know whether Cat wanted him to do anything more than what they had done the previous night.

Robbie knew he was making matters far more complicated than they needed to be. After all, he and Cat were married now – the most practical step after engaging in feverish kissing was to make love. And it was his job as the man of the house to bring things to their logical conclusion one way or the other.

And yet, the scrawny teenage boy, who was quickly becoming a more mature man in thought and deed by the minute, didn't want to do things in this manner.

He wanted Cat to have a say in all of their martial affairs, especially when it came to her own body and how it was touched. He wanted to have not only her explicit consent to the deed, but her more implicit indications of love and desire right along with it.

It was very vexing.

Nevertheless, Robbie tried his best to treat Cat the same way he had before all of these confusing feelings had surfaced and things continued in somewhat of the same vein as before.

Because of Cat's tender ministrations, the swollen bruise on Robbie's eye reduced in size and soon morphed into a faint, yellowish hue across his pale skin.

Even though they hadn't discussed the implications of their kisses afterwards, the couple had now become bolder with their words and deeds in the weeks that ensued. Cat was being far more affectionate and finding different excuses to kiss Robbie chastely on the cheek or the forehead. Robbie in turn was becoming more playful with Cat and finding a million different reasons to hug her, especially from behind when she was engaged in chores around the house.

Things grew even more spirited between the two of them two weeks later.

It was a hot, summer's day on Valentine Farm. There was only a slight breeze in the air which cooled Cat's cheeks slightly while she climbed a tree and picked some apples from the branches.

Even though Robbie was supposed to be fixing a rusty valve on the pipe drawing water from the well, he couldn't take his eyes off of Cat. She was wearing a plain, yellow and cream dress today with an apron over her front to stop herself from getting any unsightly stains on her clothes. She kept wiping a thin band of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand during intervals of picking apples and dropping them into a wicker basket resting at the foot of the tree.

Watching her hard at work was giving Robbie one too many impolite thoughts about how else they could be working up a sweat instead of doing chores.

He decided to remedy the growing heat in his body by making himself cooler. He achieved this by unbuttoning his white dress shirt down the middle and along the cuffs where he had rolled them up to his elbows hours before.

Cat happened to turn around at that precise moment as Robbie worked to get the shirt out from under his braces. The saliva in her throat dried and withered away at the sight of Robbie removing his shirt, leaving him only wearing his pants and shoes, his lean and pale upper body still encased in his braces.

Those metal clasps holding up his pants and cascading over Robbie's skinny shoulders and chest was enough to make Cat nearly swoon and fall out of the apple tree. She'd seen plenty of rugged, handsome men in her time with tanned skin and chiseled chests that seemed to be carved out of stone. And yet, she was being driven to the point of insanity at the newly developed muscles that had formed on Robbie's forearms from just a few short weeks of manual labour. Had he always been this irresistible before or was it simply a side-effect of exchanging delirious kisses with him many nights ago?

Her eyes travelled down over his smooth stomach where she could see some soft tufts of hair gathered around his navel and disappearing below the line of his dark blue trousers.

She cleared her throat loudly and began fanning her cheeks, which were turning pink from the heat of her tumultuous thoughts. She felt very annoyed with Robbie all of a sudden for taking off his shirt.

"Robbie, you shouldn't leave your shirt on the ground like that. It's going to be filled with grass stains by the time you go inside the house later," Cat huffed indignantly.

"Don't worry, the grass is not very moist today. And even if my shirt gets dirty, I promise I'll wash it myself," Robbie answered good-naturedly.

"As if you know how to get grass stains out of clothing…" Cat muttered in a frazzled manner, wishing her cheeks would stop burning her fingers every time she touched them.

"Cat, are you quite alright, my darling?" Robbie questioned, a mesh of concern and amusement etched into his tone.

He could tell that she was clearly annoyed about something. But her tone and facial expressions made her look irresistibly cute and he was finding it difficult to keep a straight face at her actions.

Cat blushed even harder at the simple term of endearment which had fallen so effortlessly from Robbie's lips, which served to irritate her even more.

"I'm perfectly fine. Just a little hot, that's all," she stammered in a bid to sound completely indifferent, climbing down from the tree to fetch a handkerchief for her flaming face.

"Oh dear, we can't have that. Let's cool you down right away," Robbie declared, a devilish grin painted on his face.

With that, he twisted a nozzle on the pipe he'd been fixing a minute ago. A giant torrent of water roared from its core and Robbie turned the pipe in Cat's direction. She was assaulted from head to toe with a steady stream of icy cold water coming from the well.

"ROBBIE!" Cat shrieked like a banshee.

Her hair and clothes were soaking wet and Robbie hunched forward, clutching his stomach with his hands and laughing hard at her.

"Robert Shapiro, you are a dead man walking!" Cat roared.

She barely dodged another spray of the water that Robbie aimed at her a few seconds later. But she wasn't so lucky the third time around when Robbie got her smack in the face with another torrent of water.

"Robbie, I am going to kill you!"

"Kill me? I thought you'd be grateful – I cooled you down," Robbie protested, smirking widely at his wife's irate features.

"Did you? Because I'm definitely boiling over with rage now!" Cat fumed.

She charged Robbie at full force, catching him completely off guard. In his haste to avoid getting hit by Cat, Robbie had dropped the offending pipe onto the grass.

His brown eyes grew wide with horror when Cat was quicker than he in snatching up the pipe and holding it against her chest.

"Caterina, please be reasonable…" Robbie begged, holding his hands up in an act of appeasement.

But this time, it was Cat's turn to grin evilly as she waved the pipe back and forth like a cobra waiting to strike its prey.

"Oh, it's too late for that, my darling…" she crooned, grinning slyly till her dimple appeared on her left cheek.

Robbie gasped when she fired the water right at his bare chest, turning his skin to liquid ice. And just when he was about to let out a stream of protests and a few choice profanities, Cat made him swallow water instead when she blasted him right in the face.

"That does it! Prepare for my revenge!" he roared dramatically at the top of his lungs.

Then he gave chase while Cat sprinted away from him, laughing and screaming in a high-pitched voice. Several cows in the near vicinity lifted their heads from chewing on grass and mooed in what sounded like surprise as two humans in soaking wet clothing sprinted past them, their legs swishing through the long grass.

Whether Robbie finally caught up with Cat or she simply admitted defeat, one couldn't say for certain. But in the next minute, Robbie had grabbed Cat around the waist from behind and hoisted her into the air. Cat did her best to fight him off, but her attempts to hit Robbie's hands and sides from that vantage point were hampered by the fact that she was laughing too much to put up a sufficient struggle.

"Do you surrender?!" Robbie screamed, his own voice hoarse from laughing at Cat's antics.

His hands were clasped tightly around her lithe waist. The heat of her body was coursing through his fingertips despite her clammy skin, giving him a sense of warm-blooded wellbeing.

She felt perfect in his arms like this.

For Cat's part, she was astounded that Robbie was still able to hold her up like this for longer than 30 seconds. He'd barely been able to carry a full sack of apples when they'd first gotten married. His newly defined arm muscles clearly weren't just for show.

It felt incredibly nice with the way he was holding her now. So much so that she laughed aloud once more and replied with a stubborn 'Never!' in the hopes that Robbie wouldn't let her go just yet.

Nana Shapiro watched the happy couple's antics from the front porch, shaking her head and sighing. She'd previously been sitting in the living knitting some new socks for her grandson when she'd heard the ruckus outside and had come to investigate. On one hand, she was positively ecstatic that Robbie and Cat's married dynamic had reached this surprising new level of intimacy in a relatively short time. But on the other hand, they were acting quite frivolously when they were supposed to be doing their chores.

What on Earth would Caterina's parents think of her foolish shenanigans right now? It was bad enough that they already had a son who in Nana Shapiro's mind had clearly been dropped on the head too many times as an infant…

"Robert and Caterina, stop wasting water at once! Do you think the good Lord made water just so the two of you can fool around like this? Robbie, put your shirt back on this instant! You're going to get a bad sunburn! And don't come crying to me when people start mistaking you for a long, skinny tomato!" Nana Shapiro scolded, shaking her fist indignantly in the air.

"Sorry, Nana Shapiro!" Cat called out gaily.

"Don't apologise to her! We're only watering the grass, Nana! Albeit in a haphazard manner," Robbie joked facetiously.

"That is not how anyone has ever watered anything in the history of well…anything, young man!" Nana Shapiro retorted.

"It's a new irrigation method, Nana. Maybe you should come closer so I can give you a proper demonstration-"

"Robbie…" Cat warned, stifling a giggle at her husband's playfulness with his grandmother.

How on Earth would she face anyone if Robbie's rambunctiousness gave the elderly woman a heart attack or worse?

"Don't even think about it, Robert Ephraim!"

* * *

**Author Note:**** I suppose this short chapter was an 1850s version of Cat's exploits at the beach in season 1 _Victorious_. She got hosed down by a cute boy, but didn't eat any tuna tartare nor engage in a spoof of the clay-making scene from _Ghost_. **

**But that spoof could still happen in this story. I enjoy stealing ideas from famous movies and some of my other favourite rom-coms. **

**The only things I cannot steal are your hearts. And that's only because I have no romantic game whatsoever. So rest assured, your hearts are relatively safe in my presence. **

**Unless anything in my writing is making you positively gooey, wondering exactly how Snapplelinz's magical fingers are able to type such poignant and jizz-worthy romantical fics. **

**All I can say is this: **

**The Muse called out to me with her soft brown eyes, siren-worthy singing talent, adorable dimples on her cheeks which should be made illegal in Europe and an Italian surname which I occasionally order at Starbucks when I get a caramel macchiato. **

**The rest, as they say, was _yesterday. _**

**That was my douchey way of saying 'history' without actually saying 'history'. I'll see myself out now. **

**Tootles! **


	8. Consummation

**Author Note:**** Nimen hao! That was Mandarin for 'Hello, everyone!' - I hope you liked me being all international for a moment ;-) I think I'm finally getting funnier with each new posting. I drew inspiration from two of my favourite authors on the site - demondreaming and waitwhathuh. They both write for the Victorious fandom too and their writing is outstanding! I especially love their Cori fics 'Play Gay' by DD and 'Dead To You' with the sequel 'Life After Death' by WWH. Check them out if you want to have your head popped Kingsman style, but in the awesomest way! **

**But besides their epic writing skills, their author notes are honestly some of the funniest ones I've ever read of, well...anything. So I'd like to think that I'm following in my heroines' footsteps in every way :-D **

**I've gotten into what the young folk might call a 'groove dog' with my author notes. **

**Oh yes, I am both hip and woke. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Victorious_ or any of the zany character from this hilarious show. If I did, Leon Thomas would've also gotten more singing 'face time' in every episode. Boi's voice is like butter melting on French toast. **

**I like French toast more than Ariana Grande. **

**I jest, French toast is rotting garbage in comparison to Ariana's tap-dancing pinky toe. **

* * *

Robbie and Cat soon became busy with other affairs to pay too much attention to the growing attraction developing between them.

Fall was fast approaching and the time for harvesting had finally arrived in Northridge. Valentine Farm had yielded a successful harvest and Robbie and Cat had made a lot of money when they'd taken their delicious apples to market.

When they had gathered their bountiful crop and either sold or stowed the rest away to be used during the wintry months, Cat and Robbie went to other neighbouring farms to lend a hand. Some of the other farmers in the town hadn't been as lucky as the Shapiros and they had been plagued by pests and frequent storms that prevented them from yielding a more bountiful crop.

On this particular day, Robbie and Cat had gone to the Harris Farm to help Andre and his aged grandmother with their wheat harvest. Before the poor woman's mind had become unhinged due to the tragic death of her husband in a horse-riding accident some 10 years before, Andre's grandmother had been renowned for her sumptuous baked bread and delicious cakes in Northridge. When the demons didn't take hold of her mind on certain days, she could be seen baking some delectable scones and banana bread that made your water with a sudden pang of hunger.

While Robbie and Andre worked tirelessly in the wheat fields and gathered up the newly ripened sheaves, Cat had decided to keep Andre's grandmother company in the kitchen and helped the elderly woman prepare some gingerbread cookies.

Robbie marveled at the way that Cat was able to interact with every person she met, regardless of their age or…mental instability.

It was a rare gift that made him proud to call her his wife.

"You and Cat seem to be getting along really well these days…" Andre noted with a grunt of effort while heaving some heavy grains of wheat onto a nearby table for Robbie to sift through.

He was eternally grateful to Cat for keeping his grandmother occupied for the time being. She'd nearly scared the hired hands away when she'd tried to attack them with a pitchfork, claiming that they'd been sent by the devil to carry her away to the gates of hell. He thanked his lucky stars that the Valentines had been happy with choosing Robbie as a husband for their only daughter. He couldn't have ever imagined Robbie helping him now if he weren't married to one of the sweetest girls in Northridge.

She was an excellent influence on his surly friend.

"Yes, we are," Robbie agreed, sifting through the grains of wheat and checking which ones were good enough to be sent to the market. "She's a wonderful woman. I couldn't be happier…"

Andre sensed there was more to come, so he kept silent while doing his work.

"I don't quite know what she desires from me. She seems content with me as her companion, but I can't tell if she expects us to be lovers in the future. It's maddening." Robbie ended off, the frustration explicit in his weary tone.

"It's only maddening because you desire her in every way," Andre noted.

The African-American man smirked widely at the look of shock on his friend's face. "Don't look so alarmed. Even if you hadn't confided in me before this, it's obvious in everything you say and do that you care for Cat a great deal. Sometimes that level of devotion can only be satiated with physical love." He declared in a philosophical manner.

"I just wish I knew how to bridge the gap between what we have now and what we could possibly have in the future: love, passion, a family." Robbie murmured, feeling strangely rueful in the moment.

Andre placed another stack of wheat in front of Robbie, chewing his thick bottom lip while pondering on his friend's situation.

"Cat is not like other girls, Robbie. You don't have to beat around the bush with her; and she certainly won't like it if you try to patronize her. If you care for her as much as I know you do, then show her how you truly feel. A real man doesn't require force to get what he wants."

"Andre, you are a wise friend and a kind man. Why have you not found a wife of your own?"

Andre laughed hard at this and clapped an affectionate hand on the scrawny boy's shoulder. "Because there aren't many girls like Caterina Valentine for a man like me to marry."

"There is always Victoria Vega…" Robbie noted with a smirk on his face.

"Victoria is a dear friend and only that, my good man. In any case, if we ever married, I wouldn't only be marrying Tori. I would be marrying her entire family; her parents are lovely Christian folk, but her sister Katrina is quite mad…" Andre explained, shuddering on the last part.

Robbie laughed heartily at this and ruffled Andre's hair affectionately. Rat Valentine may have been a handful as far as loony older siblings went, but Katrina Vega made Rat look like the patron saint of normalcy and filial devotion.

In fact, with her fiery temper and her whimsical demands, Katrina Vega made Jadelyn West look quite sane in comparison…

A loud clap of thunder rattled through the greying sky. Andre glanced upwards and frowned speculatively. Moisture fell from overhead and landed on his thick lips, giving off an earthy and dewy sensation on his tongue.

"Looks like this morning's storm in neighbouring Los Angeles has reached us at last…" he murmured half to himself. "You'd best get you and your wonderful wife home before the rain starts."

"What about you? We're not finished here," Robbie said out of concern for his friend.

"We'll have to continue tomorrow. For now, help me load this wheat into the barn."

Robbie did just that. And once they were finished, he and Cat hurried to their wagon and hastened home as the sound of thunder roared once more from the heavens.

* * *

The horses grew startled by blinding shards of lightning cutting across the greying sky, soon followed by loud peals at unexpected intervals on the journey home. But with a soft click of his tongue and Cat's gentle hand resting on his free arm, Robbie was able to get them home in one piece several hours later.

The storm had now reached Northridge's farming community with shrieking tenacity. The wind howled through the trees and heavy shards of rain slashed at the ground and the windows of the farmsteads.

When the horses and the other farm animals were safely placed in the barn, Cat and Robbie sprinted back towards the house.

Robbie never dealt well with getting caught in the rain. His already curly hair frizzed and tangled like gnarly roots around his skull, making it impossible to comb when it was wet. Cat, on the other hand, looked like she was in her element at that precise moment. Her flaming red hair had come undone from its coarse pins and it chased her lithe body like a galloping horse. She danced ahead of Robbie, spinning around in a circle and laughing at the greying sky as they jogged up the cobbled pathway to their home.

Robbie had never seen anything more beautiful than Cat then and there.

It was in that moment that the implications of what it meant for Cat Valentine to be his wife dawned on him.

And he realized that he wanted her.

By the time they were finally indoors and safe from the storm, they were soaked to the bone from the torrential rain. Since they'd been away from home since the early morning, the fireplace hadn't been readied as per usual. This was also because Robbie's grandmother was also away from home too, having gone to called on Minister Eikner earlier that day. Robbie knew not to worry too much about his elderly grandmother's safety; when the storm had begun hours ago, she would've had the good sense to stay at the minister's home, and naturally talk the poor man's ears off till the rain finally subsided.

But without a fire to warm the house, a cold draught had seeped through the wooden frames, making the air inside the house chilly and spindly.

"Come on. Let's go upstairs and get out of these wet clothes." Robbie urged his wife.

Cat nodded and climbed the steps to their bedroom first while Robbie gathered several logs from a pile in the kitchen. While Cat rummaged around their dresser for warm and dry clothes for them both to change into, Robbie placed the logs into the fireplace in their bedroom, hastening to make short work of making a fire to warm the frozen room.

At first, the fire was a meagre flame resembling tiny wisps of smoke. But as Robbie continued stoking the embers with the poker, the fire grew steadily till he could feel its warmth on his clammy hands. He moved briskly around the room to light some candles in a bid to pierce the growing darkness surrounding them.

"There, that's better," Robbie said with contentment as a timid glow settled around his body.

He turned to say something to Cat and stopped short.

After placing their dry clothes atop the quilt, she now stood beside the bed. She shivered uncontrollably, hugging her arms tightly around her sodden dress. Robbie clumsily reached for a towel strewn over a chair by the desk in the corner and hastened to rub the rough fabric against Cat's clammy arms to dry her body and warm her up simultaneously.

Thankfully, most of her cold convulsions had been reduced to the tiniest tremors, making goosebumps erupt all over her arms.

"Thank you," Cat murmured through her trembling.

"You're welcome," Robbie answered automatically, not realizing that he was trembling for a very different reason now.

Cat's eyes lifted towards her husband. She'd noticed the rough tenure of his voice just now and it made her breath hitch in her throat.

And the way he was looking at her now was enough to turn her insides to molten lava: burning and boiling over with sudden want.

"H-h-here, let me help you…" Cat mumbled, breaking eye contact with her husband.

Before he could say anything, she tapped his shoulders gently to make him stoop a little lower. Then she unfastened the buttons on his shirt and unclipped his braces so they fell limply on either side of his pants.

But in her bid to help Robbie out of his wet clothes, Cat temporarily forgot that she was undressing her husband and exposing more of his skin to her wandering eyes.

The candles had cast a golden glow over Robbie, making the raindrops on his pale chest shine in silvery droplets. He was still impossibly skinny after all this time she'd known him. And yet, his body was unventured territory she suddenly wished to explore. Robbie Shapiro was made of snowy hills and sloping valleys she wanted to walk across and climb till she reached the top.

She forgot that she was cold and stepped nimbly towards Robbie. He watched her wordlessly, giving her all the room and space to do whatever she liked in the moment. She chose to reach forward and press her hands against the slopes and slants of his chest. Despite his healthy appetite, Robbie had next to no fat on his body. There only seemed to be bones jutting unevenly from beneath his skin, lined with the tiniest of muscles that thrummed and rippled at her every caressing touch.

Cat had kissed a few boys in her time, but she'd never touched any of them in such an intimate setting as this. It was surreal and overwhelming in the best possible way. That's when she realized that she wanted more of this heady feeling coursing through her trembling bones in that moment.

She was brought back to reality when Robbie let out a shuddering breath of his own through half-closed eyes at her touches. He stopped her exploration by grasping her hands in a vice-like grip.

Cat gulped nervously at the sudden blackness of his eyes as he gazed down at her.

Then the darkness evaporated and all that was left was the warmth of Robbie's dark brown eyes as he leant forward and kissed Cat.

Her eyes remained open in sheer shock for several seconds. Then they closed of their own volition as she melted into the kiss and placed her hands back on Robbie's balmy chest.

That previous want of removing wet clothes in lieu of dryer ones no longer seemed necessary after that. And yet, the removal of wet clothes had now become an unspoken fact which would soon come to fruition.

Robbie increased the pressure of his kisses, trying to mimic Cat's previous technique of tilting his head ever so slightly so that his lips lined up with hers in perpendicular paroxysm. He used one hand to cup the back of her head and trailed his fingers through her wet tendrils of hair. With each stroke of his fingers, Cat emitted a string of pleasurable gasps whenever they broke apart to catch their breath before getting lost in more delirious kissing.

Without thinking twice about it, Robbie moved his hands down to Cat's slim waist and pulled her closer. Now, Cat was planted right against Robbie's chest and she could hear how hard his heart was beating in that moment.

Was it really because of her?

Elation coursed through Cat, making her body hum with pleasure as she looped her hands around Robbie's neck and kissed him with more fervor.

Even without anything of significance happening just yet, this was exactly how she had envisioned her first night with a man to be.

And now she knew she wanted to give herself completely to the man standing before her.

They finally broke apart for longer than a few seconds. This time, it was Robbie who stepped closer and removed Cat's sodden dress piece by piece. The fabric was heavy and cumbersome from the rainwater, but Robbie took his time and removed it as gently as possible till it pooled at her ankles. Like their first night together, Cat was wearing her undergarments beneath her dress. But the way she was looking at him now, biting her bottom lip while he trailed a lone finger down her right arm was nothing like that first night.

At any moment, they were both going to burst from holding in their romantic feelings for each other for so long.

And Robbie couldn't wait for that moment when they would finally give themselves to each other.

It felt like he had been waiting his whole life for a moment like this.

Cat bit her bottom lip again in a mesh of nervousness and anticipation when Robbie's cold fingers slid over her skin yet again, slipping under the straps of her undergarments. Because they were soaked just like the dress she'd worn over it, Robbie could already make out the transparent silhouette of her smooth skin. He struggled to contain himself as he tugged the fabric lower still, revealing the masterpiece that was Cat's body beneath.

Never in his life did he dream that he would experience an amorous situation like this with a woman. He wished he'd been better prepared for the onslaught of bewildering emotions which came with the moment. With that said, he felt glad and relieved that he was sharing this experience with Cat.

She made him surer of himself somehow.

Cat shivered even more when she finally stood in front of Robbie completely devoid of clothing. She hugged her chest tightly and struggled to make eye contact with her husband.

Robbie stooped over Cat till she couldn't look away anymore.

"You are so beautiful, Caterina," he whispered into the night, his eyes dancing over her lithe legs, her womanly hips and the sensuous curves of her breasts.

He bent forward and kissed the tops of her shoulder blades with such bruising tenderness that it made Cat emit a husky moan in turn, her hands landing limply at her sides as she closed her eyes and gave into the sensations.

Robbie pulled away a moment later in his haste to remove his own clothing. Cat sucked in a breath at the sound of the buckle on his belt clanging loudly while he removed his pants and then his underwear.

She'd heard many wives' tales about the male anatomy and what a woman should expect on the first night of consummation. But no story could've properly readied Cat for the sight before her. A man's body was so alien, yet captivating all at once.

She hoped that she would be enough to satisfy Robbie.

When he was nude too, Robbie moved to their bed and sat down on the edge. He reached out for Cat and held her small hands in his as she stood before him.

This was the moment of truth: the one where she had the power to give herself to him or to refuse him.

"Are you sure, Cat?" he asked in a gentle voice.

Cat's lovely face was contorted with what looked like nervousness. But finally, her face cleared when she looked long and hard into Robbie's eyes. He emitted an inward sigh of relief when she smiled brightly at him and nodded.

"I want this, and I want you. More than anything," Cat promised in a husky whisper, enveloping her lips with Robbie's yet again.

Robbie groaned against her sensual lips and used what little strength he had to hoist her into his arms and lay her down gently on their bed. Cat's chest heaved with an almighty effort when Robbie moved to lay on top of her, keeping himself propped up above her with his elbows resting on either side of her waist.

Cat reached for Robbie first this time, coiling her hands around his neck and her legs around his back as they kissed with a feverish intensity that was sure to rival the raging storm outside. The rain continued slashing like knives against the windows, muting the passionate moans and gasps coming from inside the bedroom.

Their chests were lined up, fueling Robbie's whole body with sudden desire as he peppered Cat's neck with several open-mouthed, erotic kisses. Her whimpering and gasps of pleasure flashed rouge against his senses while he ground painstakingly against her.

They pulled apart yet again and Cat nodded her assent. Robbie went very slowly, bracing himself for that moment when he and Cat would finally be united. When it happened, Cat uttered a sharp cry of pain, which nearly made Robbie rethink this entire endeavor. But her feet locked insistently around the backs of his calves, keeping him stubbornly in place. And when she was finally ready, she locked eyes with Robbie and began moving up and down, slowly and assuredly of her own accord.

The sensation of her sheathed around him was excruciating and exquisite. He gritted his teeth and tried his best to match her agonizingly slow rhythm, wanting to build up to the moment together and let it last for as long as possible.

The tension which Cat felt in her body began to melt away slowly. And with that sharp pain from before came a feeling of release rushing through her body. They locked eyes as Robbie moved above her, encircling her waist with his hand to steady himself while they made love.

She could see how hard it was for Robbie not to lose control and speed things up. And it made her love him all the more. She kissed him hard and allowed the last vestige of her control to burn away as she ground more into him, breathing loudly in his ear as she held him close.

The candles burning on the dresser did just enough to give their bedroom an ethereal glow as their bodies shook and writhed together. Robbie winced in agony and ecstasy at the way that Cat grasped fistfuls of his curly locks in her fists as he moved within her.

The pleasure was becoming too much now. He knew he wouldn't last longer than a few more seconds.

"Cat," Robbie gasped, his movements becoming faster and more erratic as that taut cord of control deep inside him finally snapped.

With one final cry of ecstasy, Robbie rushed over into completion. He collapsed beside Cat in a tired heap a few seconds later, his heart hammering away in his chest. Cat was silent, but her hand reached for Robbie's and held onto it in a moment of tender recognition of what had transpired between them.

Robbie turned to face Cat, his feelings pouring out of his eyes just from gazing at her and taking in all of her.

"Are you alright?" he asked tentatively, asking mostly for her and a little for himself.

Cat nodded and smiled meekly. "I'm alright."

But something in her smile made Robbie a little unsure of himself. So he inched closer to her, turning her hand over in his and tracing her palm with his fingers.

"That was absolutely marvelous, Cat. But…did you reach…completion too?"

At first, Cat didn't want to answer. But when she looked into Robbie's eyes and saw nothing but love and acceptance there, she decided to be brave too.

"It was lovely for me, Robbie. But I'm sorry…I didn't."

Robbie was crushed by this. But he decided not to make the moment about his inadequacies as a husband and focused instead on his wife.

"Forgive me, my darling," he whispered humbly, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles. "What can I do?"

"Nothing right now, my love. Let's get some rest," Cat chided in a gracious tone.

But Robbie was having none of Cat's selfless devotion. Tonight, he wanted her to feel as whole as he did, if not more.

Cat gasped in surprise and pleasure when Robbie laid a tentative hand on her bare stomach and rubbed his fingers slowly around her navel.

"Cat, I…" Robbie stammered, trying to find the right words in the moment. "I…never want to leave you in want for anything, especially this. I'm your husband and I want to do everything in my power to make you happy. Please…let me try to love you better. Show me how to bring you to completion."

Cat was moved by Robbie's words. She knew this was not the norm for any husband in this particular age of civilization. The purpose of sexual intercourse had always been to ensure pregnancy and carry on the lineage of one's bloodlines.

It was a rarity when a man and woman engaged in sexual intercourse to fulfill and satiate each other's carnal desires.

This was a moment in a million. Not only was Robbie more open-minded than many husbands in this meek farming community, but he was also a husband who loved his wife and didn't shy away from the responsibility of making and keeping her happy.

Even if it meant that he lost face just a little.

It was Robbie's turn to wonder what he'd done wrong when Cat stopped his movements on her stomach and gripped his hand so hard, he worried she would sprain his fingers.

Cat startled Robbie's senses yet again when she lifted his hand and brought it to her lips to give it a gentle kiss. Then she wordlessly took Robbie's hand in her own and dragged it over her trembling body.

Robbie gulped nervously when his hand was placed over one of Cat's delicate breasts. He had admired it from a short distance while they'd made love earlier, but he hadn't touched it until now.

"Start here," Cat urged in a stilted voice, trying her best to hold back all of her desire in the moment.

She wanted Robbie to figure out how best to please her, and in his own time too.

"You can use your hands or your mouth, or both."

Robbie nodded meekly, his throat going dry at the prospect of using his lips on this part of Cat's exquisite body. "What else can I do?" he asked quietly, doing his best to take it all in.

Cat took Robbie's hand slowly off of her breast and planted it on her stomach again. But Robbie's eyes bulged in their sockets when she carefully dragged his hand lower and lower over her body and beyond her thighs.

He thought he knew what she intended until his hand came to rest not at her entrance where another part of his body had already been, but at a vantage point just north of it. He had never touched this area before, and it both thrilled and terrified him simultaneously.

"Do you know what this part of a woman's body is, Robbie?" Cat asked seriously, struggling not to show her husband just how aroused she really was.

Robbie wanted to answer in the affirmative. But since this was a night of firsts, including honesty with one's spouse, he took the road less travelled and shook his head.

"It's ok, most men don't know either. Women know of it of course, but even we rarely speak of it. If you and I continue making love to each other from now on, then I want you to know about these things too. If you really want me to reach my completion while we make love, then these are both good places to touch me." Cat explained in a way that was patient and not patronizing in the least.

Robbie listened attentively and nodded at the end of it.

"So, with this second part of your body…do I only use my fingers to give you pleasure? Or can I also use my mouth too?" He asked like that of an eager, but serious student.

Cat covered her mouth and giggled at the earnestness of Robbie's question.

He really was one in a million and she loved him dearly for it.

"You can use both your fingers and your mouth. Just do whatever feels natural in the moment…" Cat urged off in a husky tone.

Robbie grinned at this and dove right in by lying on top of Cat and kissing her sensually while his fingers did some much needed exploring.

It took a lot of coaxing and feverish instruction from Cat concerning the pace and pressure of his ministrations. But after that, Robbie began taking all of Cat's verbal and non-verbal cues into consideration while coming up with a few ingenuous ideas of his own. He wasted no time in kissing and fondling her beautiful breasts, reveling in the sounds of pleasure that escaped his wife's lips at his ministrations.

He kissed Cat everywhere she wanted and in places that she didn't expect too. But the latter of those locations did just enough, if not more, to make Cat's body tingle with mounting pleasure. Her mother had once told her about these secret delights that women only experienced on rare occasions when in the company of men and sometimes when they were alone in their beds. She never knew that something could feel this good, and it wasn't even by her own hands.

Robbie's patience and determination finally paid off when Cat's high-pitched chants became lucid monologues of praise and encouragement. He emitted a groan of pleasure-pain when Cat's fingernails found purchase on his shoulders, slicing into his skin like talons as he lay between her thighs and kissed her exactly where she wanted him to. Cat surrendered herself to every good sensation, her husband's name escaping her lips in gasping breaths as she rose and rose to reach her snow-capped peak.

And then she was falling head-first into a kaleidoscope of colours and sensations when Robbie trailed his cool tongue over her inner thighs, bringing her to completion with a final and delicate swipe of his thumb over that prized area between her legs.

Robbie was a little overwhelmed when Cat came to her senses a minute later and cuddled fiercely into his chest, a few salty tears escaping her eyelids as she wept softly.

"What is it, my darling? Did I hurt you?" he asked worriedly, rubbing soothing circles up and down her back as he spoke.

Cat shook her head vigorously and moved it away from Robbie's chest to plant a loving kiss on his lips.

"Not at all, Robbie. You were wonderful, it was perfect. I just…love you so much." Cat whispered against his lips.

It was all that Robbie could do not to start crying when she said those heavenly words to him. Instead of crying, he showed his true feelings by taking her in his arms and kissing the sides of his face.

"Cat, you…don't know…how happy that makes me. I've loved you for so long now," he confessed.

Cat hiccoughed slightly as she laughed out of sheer happiness at her husband's confession. She kissed his shoulder tenderly before their lips found each other again.

* * *

**Author Note:**** Yeeeeesss, it finally happened. Cat and Robbie made sweet 19th century love. And after reading over it again, I now realise how much I stole from _The Notebook_. Sure, a boat wasn't involved, but both Robbie and Cat were caught out in the rain and very wet, so...I am indeed a literary thief. **

**I hope the Cabbie love scene was ok for all of you to read. It**** was slightly on the more mature side of things without me actually mentioning very obvious porno-esque words like the F-word, any of the C-words, pretty much any P-word. **

**Or the Z-word. **

**I'm kidding, there is no Z-word. I sincerely hope there isn't a Z-word. What perverse world would we live in if there was indeed a Z-word to refer to 'The sexuals'?**

**But back to wetness. **

**Has anyone else noticed just how good both Ariana Grande and Victoria Justice look when they're wet? **

**And by that, I literally mean sopping wet with water from head to toe. Like in that season 2 episode of _Victorious_ with Prome. **

**That ending scene with Cat and Tori singing 'BFB' was life-changin****g. **

**If I ever get the chance to meet Victoria Justice in person, the first thing I'll do is throw a bucket of water right in her face. Then I will take a picture with her as proof that she indeed looks terrific while wet. **

**Naturally after this occurs, Victoria will promptly have me arrested for assault with a deadly weapon (the weapon in this case being either the bucket or my lack of brain cells). I will go to jail and then she will take out a restraining order against me upon my release. **

**And then I will be very sad and ponder whether my life had any meaning before throwing a bucket of water in Victoria Justice's face. **

**It's good to have aspirations. **

**Anyway, that's all for right now. I'll post more chapters tomorrow which might or might not have more of 'The sexuals' in it for Cabbie. You'll just have to wait and see. **

**Tootles!**


	9. Ardour

**Author Notes:**** Anyeong-haseyo! That was Korean for 'hello'. And that's about all I can say in Korean because my knack for learning new languages is trash :-P Thank you so much for the review from Fanfic-Reader-88, another one of my Suite Life homies from back in the day :-D And he's right, it is good to be back with a brand new rap Eminem style. Although I'd never be on the same level as that Rap God. He can tie me up and throw me in his trunk and then drive me off a bridge on a rainy night any time he wants *rrrrrrrrr* **

**Erm, anyway, now for the nineth chapter! Now that Cat and Robbie have done the horizontal hokey-pokey, what new delights will await my faithful readers? Read on if you please! **

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own _Victorious _or the zany characters from this hilarious show. If I did, Moose would've become a permanent fixture at Hollywood Arts in season 3. And he would've been shirtless the entire time too. **

* * *

Now that Cat and Robbie had finally consummated their love for each other, they were inseparable. From the time they woke up to the time they went to bed, they stayed in each other's company as much as possible. The times shared between them were spontaneous and sweet in nature, particularly when Cat took over Nana Shapiro's previous duties and began cutting Robbie's hair for him on regular occasions.

Robbie loved the look of concentration on Cat's face while gazing at her through the mirror as she snipped delicately away at his curly tendrils of hair every few months. She never poked him on the neck with the blunt handle of the scissors nor tugged too hard on his head to get a better angle like his grandmother did. Cat was always patient in every single ministration, grasping Robbie's hair gently between her index and middle fingers to properly measure the length she needed to snip away.

Robbie always felt completely relaxed when Cat shaved his stubble too after cutting his hair, drawing adorable pictures with her fingers into the shaving cream spread generously across his face. And it gave him a secret thrill with Cat's unique method of getting rid of loose hair that she'd forgotten to remove while she worked; her cool breath sent a pleasurable thrill down his spine as she stooped over him and blew the loose hairs away from the back of his neck.

He enjoyed those serene moments with her. And now, he began to enjoy how these quiet moments subtly incited more romantic trysts between them as the days flew by.

It often began with Robbie catching Cat unawares while she cooked in the kitchen. He snuck quietly behind his wife and wrapped his arms around her waist, turning her around to face him. And soon, Cat's initial shock at being interrupted would melt into sensual camaraderie when Robbie leant forward and pressed his lips hungrily against hers. He was always careful with pushing her against the cool, stony walls and far away from the dangers of the fireplace or the overheated pots simmering merrily away on the stove beside them as their mouths met in a passionate duel each time.

It would take a long and lustful gaze shared between them beforehand and then Cat would grab Robbie's hand and drag him into the pantry away from prying eyes so they could kiss and touch each other more intimately. It was always quite amusing when they knocked over several jars of apple preserves and a bag or two of flour in the dark while kissing heatedly.

Cat grew bolder in her approach one day when she cornered Robbie at the back of the barn. He was taking a short break from apple picking and had found a shady part of the barn to rest under and cool off.

This time, Cat wordlessly took Robbie's hand and pulled him into the barn. It was a little less gloomy in here than their kitchen pantry, shards of light creeping in through the wooden rafters overhead. The sunlight made golden stripes shine all over Cat's face, making her appearance more like that of a predator in the act of camouflage.

Robbie had never seen this feral side to Cat before.

But he knew right away that he liked it.

This time, Cat reached for Robbie first, enveloping her small hands around his back as she stood on tiptoes to kiss him. Their kisses always started off chastely and filled with silent adoration. But the longer they kissed, the more ravenous each one became, as if it was destined to be their last.

Soon enough, Robbie had lain Cat down gently on a soft bed of hay, one hand palming her cheek while the other trailed over her thick and flowing skirt to where she craved him most while they kissed passionately.

However, they weren't nearly as careful as they hoped for. They soon heard loud footsteps approaching the barn.

Before this, Cat had rolled on top of Robbie and straddled him, undoing his trousers with heavily lidded eyes fasted on him all the while. Robbie in turn had lifted Cat's dress and pulled down her underwear with trembling fingers. And it hadn't been long before Cat had lowered herself tantalizingly onto Robbie, both of them emitting hushed moans of pleasure at that heated contact between their lower bodies.

They had begun making love slowly in this new and thrilling position when those pesky footsteps had approached, closer and closer.

"Robert! Caterina! Where are you two?!" Nana Shapiro shouted in alarmingly close proximity.

Robert's eyed widened in their sockets, trying his best to process the fact that his grandmother was seconds away from interrupting him and Cat in the most mortifying manner possible.

He made to stop his and Cat's movements when his wife put a restraining hand on his shoulder. Instead, they took to listening very carefully to the direction in which Robbie's grandmother's footsteps went.

First to the right and then to the left. It seemed like the older woman was pacing outside and murmuring to herself.

"Where have those two gotten off too? And so close to dinner time as well…" Nana Shapiro muttered more loudly to herself.

Her hand reached out and rested on the barn door, as if she made to open it.

Something about Nana Shapiro's halting movements caused Cat to be more devilish than usual. She smirked at Robbie and tilted her head downwards to kiss him again. And it seemed like it was just in time; her mouth enveloping Robbie's stopped him from gasping loudly in pleasure when Cat's lithe hips began moving over him once more.

He began to think that Cat had finally lost her mind, choosing to continue their lovemaking with his grandmother so close to discovering them.

And yet, the dangerously enthralling nature of it all excited him like nothing else. And it was because it was the woman he loved that caused him to go along with her sensual plan.

While his grandmother continued her pacing outside, Robbie egged Cat subtly on by stroking her breasts through the cotton confines of her dress, his hips thrusting upwards to meet hers as they continued moving together. It was all that Cat could do to mute her cries of pleasure by biting her bottom lip so hard she feared she would draw blood. And Robbie wasn't helping matters when he moved his lips feverishly over the curved lines of her neck while bringing her closer and closer to the brink of ecstasy.

If she had known sooner that it could be like this between them as husband and wife, she would've readily agreed to consummate their marriage on their very first night together.

"Those thoughtless children…" Nana Shapiro mumbled loudly, deciding on her next course of action, completely oblivious to her grandson and his wife making furious love not even 10 paces away from where she stood.

Robbie made a face that Cat recognized as one where he was likely to give the game away by screaming in pleasure due to the undulating roll of her hips over his. So she hastened to clasp her hand tightly around his mouth, successfully swallowing the bulk of his pending moans.

Robbie in turn slipped his hand further down over Cat's body, his fingers sliding between the frills of her petticoat as he finally touched her where she wanted him to most.

Cat let out a muted sigh of exasperation mixed with ecstasy at Robbie's antics, speeding up her movements above him while Nana Shapiro continued her hushed monologue outside:

"They've probably gone for another one of their romantic strolls…" the older woman declared finally.

She let out a sigh of defeat and the two lovebirds heaved their own internal sighs of relief as her footsteps grew softer, drawing further and further away from the barn and their amorous hidey-hole.

The fact that his grandmother wouldn't be walking in on them spurred Robbie on, his fingers moving urgently against Cat's lower body until her taut release was seconds away from exploding out of her.

Cat let out a final and hushed gasp of pleasure, replacing her hand over Robbie's mouth with her lips as she moved erratically above him and reached her completion with gusto.

Robbie was only a second or two behind her, surging up into her one last time, riding the wave of his own satisfaction as he nuzzled her cotton-clad bosom with his head in the afterglow of their passionate lovemaking.

When Robbie finally came to his senses, it was to gaze at Cat still straddling him and caressing his cheeks, her soft brown eyes expressing volumes of tenderness and love.

"I never knew," Robbie gasped out, his heart still hammering away in his chest from their vigorous activity, "that it could be like this between a man and a woman, or even with you and I. If I'd known how magnificent marriage truly was before…"

"I know, my love," Cat agreed readily, adorning Robbie's neck and fabric-clad shoulder with more passion-fueled kisses, "I feel so much for you right now, it terrifies me. Promise me it will always be like this between us, no matter how old and decrepit we become," she urged.

She took Robbie's hands and held them tightly in hers as she spoke.

Robbie gazed at up Cat, seeing nothing but love shining out of her eyes. He only hoped that his eyes were expressing the exact same thing, if not more.

"I promise, my darling. With my life, if you need further convincing." He declared without hesitation.

Cat smiled radiantly, showing that elusive dimple on her left cheek that Robbie adored.

Then their lips met yet again in more fervent kisses without any sense of stopping.

* * *

**Author's Note:**** Ooh la la, a sexual tête-à-tête in the barn between Cat and Robbie just occurred. Or was it more of a romantic rendezvous since there wasn't much talking involved? **

**The mind truly boggles. **

**Again, I hope my 'T' rating was sufficient for this risque love-scene bordering on a Mills & Boon extravaganza. I would appreciate any and all feedback to let me know how my Cabbie love scenes have been received by you all *bites my fingernails nervously***

**I'm sure you'll all wondering whether the rest of this story will devolve into barely concealed B-grade soft core porn. **

**Don't worry, it shall not. I'm at least 70% certain of that. **

**I have consumed way too many snacks tonight. I think I'm turning into Cat Valentine somehow. I can think of worse people to be than her. I mean, she's sweet, easy on the eyes, she juggles, she tap-dances and she pulls with all the hot guys. I want to be here when I grow up...**

**Tootles!**


	10. Sonnet

**Author Note:**** Hello again! Where my party people at?! Which is what I would say if I ever got invited to super-cool parties with a keg and everything. **

**I need to get out more. **

**If only Netflix shows weren't so damn riveting these days. **

**Without further ado, let the Cabbie romantical escapades continue! **

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own _Victorious_ or the zany characters from this hilarious show. If I did, Beck would've tried out several different hairstyles over the course of 3 seasons. Avan Jogia has such awesome hair - he should be allowed to experiment to his heart's desire!**

* * *

Robbie was happier and more inspired than he'd ever been in the 18 years of his life before he met Cat again and fell deeply in love with her.

She was everything he could ever want in a wife and life-long companion: beautiful but without being vain, spontaneous but level-headed, down-to-earth but with the biggest imagination.

She lived in every moment and experienced every second of it with shimmering vivacity. It was like she had been born as a flower only meant to bathe in sunlight for a day before someone plucked her out at the roots. And like a flower, she bloomed and soaked up every ounce of happiness in whatever form it took.

She had the biggest heart too when it came to loving people as they were and not what she wanted them to be. He saw this all too clearly in her obvious affection for both Rat and Jade. He also appreciated her forgiving nature, despite the many wrongs that people often inflicted on her when they assumed she was just a pretty face with nothing intelligent to offer any conversation.

She was a mystery he longed to uncover more of as time progressed.

For Cat's part, she loved how Robbie had morphed from being a sulky and shallow teenage boy into a young man who loved to laugh and think deeply about the world around him. And now that they'd grown closer in their relationship, she could see just what a marvelous friend and caring husband he truly was. He liked and loved more passionately than anyone she'd ever met before in her life.

Despite the fact that he often sassed Nana Shapiro and made snarky comments about her mental health, Cat could easily see just how devoted he was to his grandmother and how much he secretly admired her. She learnt quickly on that their constant bickering was their own unique way of expressing their love for each other.

And Robbie was so smart too. He was knowledgeable about many things she'd failed to understand till now. But when he explained it to her, he did so patiently and was never flippant or condescending in his approach.

But most of all, she loved the way he loved her: passionately and unconditionally. He wasn't like other men who tried to bottle all their emotions and put on a façade to display their manliness. Robbie was sensitive and clumsy at the best and worst of times with his actions and words. And yet, he never hid his feelings from Cat, nor did he ever try to dismiss hers in turn.

Most of all, he didn't treat Cat like a prize that needed to be won or possessed. She was his partner in everything and he never made any decision, big or small, without her counsel or approval.

The same went for his previous desire to become an entertainer.

He hadn't had much time for practicing his ventriloquism skills with Rex the puppet since he'd gotten married and begun running Valentine Farm. Whenever he had free time, he would amuse Cat with the puppet's sardonic humour after they ate their supper and sat by the fireside.

Cat didn't always like or understand Rex's somewhat crass way of speaking, but she did marvel at Robbie's creativity and thought that his interactions with the puppet were quite humorous.

So much so that she began urging her husband more and more to take time away from the farm to go to the market and entertain the townsfolk of Northridge like he used to. At first, Robbie was reluctant, worrying that Cat would become overwhelmed with minding things on her own. But Cat was insistent and proved to Robbie time and time again that she was more than capable of running her family's farm without assistance.

But even when Robbie went to the market and amused the people around him with his and Rex's witty banter, he realized that he missed the time he could be spending instead with his beautiful wife. So after that, he only agreed to go to town with Rex if Cat accompanied them too.

Cat did this quite willingly, indulging often in buying new linens and ceramics for their home and sampling the delicious wares of the street food vendors. She always smiled widely when Robbie fetched a special stool for her to sit down front and centre when his performance would begin.

On one particular occasion, Robbie decided to do things a little differently. Instead of opening with his and Rex's usual tongue-and-cheek jokes and insults, he asked someone in the crowd if they had a guitar he could borrow.

"What are you doing now, Robbie?"

"I'm going to play guitar, Rex."

"Don't you think that setting the guitar on fire would be more entertaining?" the puppet questioned in a snarky tone, which made the crowd laugh hard.

"Somehow, I think you would make better kindling than a guitar," Robbie remarked dryly, which had everyone around them laughing even more, Cat included.

"You're really going to play something for these fine folks, Robert?" Rex questioned, inclining his head while Robbie rested the guitar on his knees and grasped the handle in his right hand.

"That's the idea."

"Do you know how to tell if someone can play guitar or not?"

"How, Rex?"

"Because they will tell you they can play guitar – all the time…" Rex replied, receiving a lot of laughter from the crowd.

"Alright, that's enough out of you," Robbie grumbled in the puppet's direction, playing along for effect as he strummed a few random chords on the guitar.

"I dedicate this song to my darling wife, Caterina, who is sitting in the crowd. Cat…you make me happier than I ever thought possible. I only hope that this simple melody shows you just how much."

Cat blushed a shocking shade of magenta when everyone in the crowd turned to stare in her direction and whispered conspiratorially amongst themselves. Still, she was gratified when most of those faces beamed widely at her and cooed at Robbie's affectionate words soon after.

Robbie cleared his throat and took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

Then he started playing a slow and sweet melody that travelled with the sudden breeze wafting through the marketplace.

"_**The sun sets over my head," **_Robbie began in a low and raspy tone, which Cat had never heard before, but liked all the same.

"_**Just staying warm, stay in my bed." **_

"_**The sun sets on your eyelids," **_Robbie continued, locking eyes with his wife as he strummed away. _**"Stay close, stay in my head**__," _he went on, smirking just a little at her blushing cheeks.

"_**Cause all I need is you. And all I want is you. Cause all I see is you…" **_

For the first time ever, people in the marketplace were completely entranced by Robbie's performances. This was also the case for the people who weren't sitting and listening. Even some of the vendors had halted in promoting their various wares, stopping mid-sentence and straining their ears to listen to whoever was making such a beautiful harmony using only their voice and a guitar.

Without thinking, Cat unconsciously tapped a rhythm with her feet in tune with Robbie's singing, not being able to take her eyes off him all the while.

"_**Can you be in my head? Ah, but you make it hard to focus on anything but you. On anyone but you…" **_Robbie crooned out, earning a few whoops of praise and delight from the audience, particularly due to the fact the he only seemed to have eyes for Cat.

Several people in the crowd began to clap their hands in time to the beat when Robbie approached the bridge of the song he sang. Even Rex, who could never stay quiet during any of Robbie's usual monologues, sat on a chair beside Robbie with his jaw hanging open all the while.

"_**I'm so far away, I wish I stayed. And you remembered the day. Sometimes, I feel empty inside. And then I realized there's no time for me…"**_

Cat's heart expanded to about 10 times its usual size at the way that Robbie riffed right alongside the enticing chords of the guitar. She'd seen him play a banjo at the odd garden party or picnic by the pond after a Sunday service, but she'd never seen him play guitar with so much passion and gusto before.

In that moment, she knew it was possible to fall more in love with someone in new and exciting ways.

Robbie's strumming and singing grew slower and softer as he reached the end of his song.

"_**The sun sets over my head. Stay warm, stay in my bed…" **_

In that moment, all of Northridge melted completely from view, including the puppet sitting beside him. All Robbie could see, what he knew he'd see for the rest of his life, was Cat's face, smiling radiantly up at him.

He wanted every song that he ever sang from now on to be about her and only for her.

The raucous applause barely filtered through Robbie's ears when he gave the guitar back to its rightful owner and tucked Rex under his arm. The closer he walked towards Cat, his hearing improved rapidly when Cat kissed his cheek and hugged him tight, whispering in his ear:

"Take me home now, Robbie."

"And what would you like to do when we get there, my love?" Robbie asked in a husky voice.

He had no idea where this sudden confidence had come from. It was just one of many mysteries he failed to question anymore when Cat Valentine cast her spell on his senses.

"I want you to play me like a guitar," Cat begged in a sultry tone that lit Robbie's on fire from the inside out.

Robbie did just as his red-headed beauty asked when they finally reached their home, continuing their lovemaking throughout the night. First, he stroked Cat's collarbone and tuned the valley between her breasts with careful and tender precision. Then he strummed at the rough frets of her hip bones till she hummed and her very skin sang its own melodious harmony of passion and want when he finally filled her up.

After weeks of studying and learning so many things about each other, Cat and Robbie were now perfectly in sync not only in their hearts and minds, but with their bodies too. Robbie never forged ahead now without first ensuring that Cat was enjoying the slow journey of his lower half meeting hers in an arduous dance. And when Robbie was left a little wanting in-between, Cat always picked up the pace, wrapping herself completely around him and cooing frantic words of encouragement and praise that made her husband love her a little more each time.

As they neared the end, Cat was half perched in Robbie's lap, the rest of her upper body arched and stretched across the bottom of the bed. And with her legs still wrapped around his waist, Robbie let his hands roam all across the silky skin of her hips, her stomach and then her lovely breasts while driving deeper into her all the while.

And for the first time since they'd begun this time-honored courtship of the flesh, they reached their peaks together in a mind-blowing crescendo of hearts and bodies. At the end of it, Cat stayed on top of Robbie and combed her fingers through his curly locks of hair while listening to his heart racing in his chest.

That thumping rhythm reminded her of the way he'd played guitar earlier that afternoon: with a romantic zeal that tugged and strummed away at the strings in her own chest.

"Robbie?" Cat asked after a minute of silence between them.

"Yes, my love?"

"I think I would like to play some piano for you in the parlour." Cat declared out of the blue.

"That would be lovely, my darling. I do enjoy hearing you play."

A mischievous grin appeared on Cat's face as she lifted her head to gaze into Robbie's dazed eyes.

"I also think I would like to play for you while I am…unadorned," she murmured, feigning demureness as she waited for her husband's reaction.

Usually, Robbie was a lot quicker with catching his wife's meaning when she was trying to arouse him. But after the many hours and ways in which she'd filled his body and brain with undeniable pleasure, his befuddled mind finally registered just what Cat was suggesting to him.

"Ohhhh. So…you want to be as bare as the piano keys?" he asked, running his hands tantalizingly over her sides.

"Perhaps more," Cat replied seductively.

Robbie groaned in ecstasy at this and enveloped Cat's sweet lips in several, sensual kisses, holding her tightly against his chest.

"Well, it is sheer providence that my grandmother is away from home again. Let's not waste a single moment of our time alone," he agreed readily.

Cat giggled when Robbie winked saucily at her and practically raced out of their bedroom and down the stairs, not bothering to cover himself up first.

She shook her head and smiled dreamily at her husband's facetious excitement over the simple carnal pleasures of the flesh.

Then she bounded just as eagerly down the stairs after him.

* * *

**Author Note:**** O-k, so I'm not actually sure if guitars had already been invented by 1850. So if they weren't by then, we can just call this part of the story a 'grey area' with artistic license :-P **

**The song Robbie played for Cat is called 'You' by Sebastian Roca. Check it out if you like acoustic guitar music that totally gives you the feels and makes you want to drop your panties at random, like Cat did in this chapter ;-) **

**But seriously, don't drop your underwear right now. We are living in truly unsanitary times, so stay healthy and don't be gross, m'kay?**

**I hope my characterisation of Rex was ok. I'm still trying to find his snarky voice in this story, please bear with me. **

**I looked up current pictures of Avan Jogia on Google. He really reminds me of a Persian club owner with that delightful facial hair :-P **

**Alright, back to listening to more jizz-worthy acoustic jams on Spotify. All I need is a spliff in one hand while typing with the other to make this a private party. Douchey fanfic writers welcome. **

**Tootles! **


	11. Conception

**Author Notes:**** Whazzup, B*tches! Sorry, that wasn't cool at all *cringes* This story is progressing nicely, if I do say so myself. **

**To be honest, 2019 was an incredibly difficult year for me, professionally and personally. All the negativity really hampered my creativity and I feared that I wouldn't be able to write again. **

**So I'm especially happy that 2020 has arrived and I was able to write this story and share it with all of you :'-) So thank you very much to all of you for the love and reviews - it fuels my creativity in a big way *throws confetti at you***

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Victorious_ or the zany characters in this hilarious show. If I did, Burf would've gotten more face time and eaten cucumbers the right way. Also, his name definitely wouldn't have been Burf. **

* * *

Things would've continued in this amorous fashion between the two love birds if Cat hadn't suddenly began pulling away from Robbie, both physically and emotionally.

At first, Robbie simply reasoned that things had been so busy on the farm in recent weeks, it was only natural for his wife to feel tired and burdened.

But he grew increasingly worried not only when some of her body parts like her hips and chest seemed to hurt whenever he touched her intimately, but when he also heard evident sounds of her becoming sick early on certain mornings when she thought he couldn't hear her.

Cat insisted that she was alright and that there was nothing for her husband to be concerned about. But their lovemaking had not been the same for nearly two months and Robbie grew anxious whenever he caught sight of his wife's wan and weary features.

Had she already grown tired of him?

He finally began to think less of his own needs and wants when he saw how Cat struggled to keep a simple meal of dry toast down before she was forced to rush to the nearest chamber pot in the house and vomit up the contents of her stomach.

After a lot of reluctance, Cat finally agreed to let Robbie call the local doctor to attend to Cat. On the day he arrived, Tori and Jade were also visiting Valentine Farm; they had received several letters from Robbie beforehand, urging them to look in on their friend, who was in desperate need of company and distraction from her sudden illness.

To Robbie's astonishment, Cat begged him to wait in the kitchen and instead asked her two best friends to sit with her while the doctor attended her. Robbie was hurt and confused by Cat's actions, but he kept his feelings to himself and moodily repainted some parts of Rex's body that had become weathered and discoloured over time in the confines of the kitchen.

It wasn't long before the doctor called for Robbie and he made his way upstairs. The doctor didn't elaborate on what had befallen Cat in recent weeks. But he smiled nonetheless and patted Robbie affectionately on the back before taking his leave.

Robbie grew more surprised when Jade scowled even harder at him than usual before Tori enveloped him in a warm hug and kissed his cheek, smiling broadly at him before they too left.

Robbie entered his and Cat's room with a deep sense of trepidation. To his relief, Cat was now standing close to the dresser and looked a lot better than she had in days. But her hands were pursed in front of her and trembling badly.

"Oh, Cat…" Robbie trailed off, coming to stand before his wife. "Won't you please tell me what is going on? I can't stand this anymore."

"I'm so sorry, my love," Cat replied, sobbing quietly as she struggled to make eye contact with her husband.

"Whatever is the matter? Are you terribly sick?"

"No, I am not sick at all, Robbie. But I am going through the biggest change of my life and I hardly know how to tell you."

"Never mind all that," Robbie cut in abruptly.

He was tired of this strange chasm that had come between him and his wife. No matter what had happened before, he only wanted her to know that they could and would find a way forward together.

"Caterina, please just tell me." He begged in a softer tone.

Cat took a shuddering breath and took Robbie's hands in her own while gazing down at her feet.

"I've suspected what's been happening to me for a while. And I'm very pleased about it, but…I am terribly worried that you will not feel as I do about things," she murmured in halting breaths.

"Perhaps you should let me be the judge of my own feelings, Caterina." Robbie said in a hard voice.

Cat sensed the pain in Robbie's voice and she finally understood all that she had put him through in recent times.

"Oh, Robbie," she gasped, crying even harder now. "Please forgive me, sweetheart. I didn't mean to keep secrets from you, I was just so afraid of how things would change between us. And I've loved everything we've shared together till now."

"Cat…what is it?" Robbie asked.

She took another breath and finally stared her husband dead in the eye.

"I'm pregnant."

The world stilled for eons in that moment.

Robbie hardly dared to breathe freely, let alone move, in case this all turned out to be a dream which he would awaken from.

He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"P-p-pregnant?" he squeaked, his voice far too high and girlish to belong to him.

Cat nodded firmly. "The doctor confirmed it earlier, but I have suspected this for a while now. My mother forewarned me about some of the symptoms the night before our wedding: the swelling and sensitivity of my bosom, the horrible sickness that befalls you whenever you try to consume anything. My 'monthly visitor' has also not come to us in recent times – didn't you notice?"

Robbie could honestly say he hadn't noticed the latter. He'd been so busy with managing the farm and quite frankly, too relieved to not have to suffer through Cat's monthly bouts of abominable temper tantrums and incessant crying over the strangest things.

But now he was faced with a new and terrifying thing in place of that familiar visitor.

"Pregnant," he said yet again, sounding out the word and trying to make it more familiar on his tongue.

"Robbie, you have every reason to be angry with me for keeping my thoughts to myself," Cat rushed on, gaining more courage the longer Robbie stayed silent. "I didn't want to hide anything from you. To be honest, I was terrified myself when I thought of the possibility of being with child. I just needed time to think about things and get more used to the idea-"

"Stop. I think I've heard enough." Robbie interjected, holding a hand up between their bodies to halt Cat's progress.

More tears fell down Cat's cheeks, but she nodded in acquiescence and let Robbie gather himself.

"Now that I know why you have been so distant with me lately, I'm not angry anymore," Robbie went on, startling Cat completely with his sudden change in attitude.

Her eyes widened when he stepped closer to her. Her breath came out in startled gasps when his hands moved downwards to touch her belly.

"You're really pregnant?" he asked in hushed awe.

Cat smiled nervously, but nodded all the same.

"And the doctor's quite sure?"

"Yes."

"And you're healthy? The baby is healthy too?"

"Yes."

"And you and the doctor are quite sure that I am the father of your child?"

"Ye – Robbie!" Cat fumed when she finally realized what her husband was asking her.

Robbie blushed crimson at his wife's outrage, realizing how ridiculous and inappropriate his last question was.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that last part. I'm just surprised that this happened so quickly," he admitted, rubbing his hand against his forehead, which felt oddly clammy now.

"It can't be that surprising to you when you consider how often we made love until two months ago." Cat reminded her husband with a knowing look.

Robbie blushed again, but for an entirely different reason when he sought to discover which time had resulted in the unexpected conception of their child.

"Could it have been from that time in the barn when Nana almost caught us?" he asked with unusual eagerness.

"It's possible. Or it might've been that time after you sang a romantic ballad for me in the marketplace…" Cat reminisced, getting caught up in her own feelings of the hour.

"Or that time when we had a picnic several weeks later and made love under the shade of that delightful peach tree…" Robbie continued, wrapping his arms around Cat's waist as he spoke.

"Yes! It's certainly possible!" Cat agreed readily. "And what a wonderful day it would have been to conceive a child then. You told me that the peaches were the same colour as my lips."

"And then I kissed your beautiful peach-tinted lips soon after…"

"Yes, you were very sweet and romantic that day," Cat said, smiling at the fond memory.

"Well, it hardly matters which time resulted in your pregnancy," Robbie continued, his face turning serious again.

Cat's smile dropped too while she contemplated the implications of this new dynamic in their marriage. "Of course, there are more important things to consider now."

"Precisely. The most important things of all is that we are both happy about this pregnancy. And we are both willing to do whatever it takes to raise a happy and healthy child together."

Cat was still frowning in concentration when the impact of Robbie's words suddenly dawned on her. She turned to face her husband again and saw that he was smiling and rubbing her belly yet again.

"Robbie…do you mean that you're happy…?" she asked tentatively.

Robbie gazed down at her and Cat was relieved to see nothing but love and acceptance shining in his dark brown eyes.

"Of course I am, Cat. Admittedly, it was a shock before, but now…I feel truly happy that our lives have been blessed in this fashion." Robbie said without hesitation.

"Robbie…you have no idea how happy and relieved I am to hear you say that. But…a child is still a huge responsibility. Aren't you afraid?" she whispered, cupping his cheeks in her small hands.

"Terrified," Robbie clarified. "But…I love you and even though we've only just met, I already love this baby. Our baby."

"Oh, Robbie…"

"I have no idea what sort of father I'll be, and that's terrifying too. But I promise that I will try my absolute hardest and won't let our child endure too much of Rex's inappropriate jesting-"

"Robbie," Cat interrupted in a chiding tone, leaning forward to kiss her husband's startled lips. "I love you," she whispered against his mouth.

She cried out in surprise when Rob lifted her off her feet and spun her around in a single rotation, his happiness finally catching up with the moment.

"I love you more," he said, resting Cat back on the ground.

She began crying even more when he got down on his knees and hugged her around the middle with his face pressed into her stomach.

"I love you both," he whispered fiercely against the cotton stitching of her dress where his future offspring lay just out of reach.

Cat lowered her head slightly to kiss the top of Robbie's head and wrapped her hands around his neck.

They stayed like that for a little while longer, thinking and reveling in the beginning of a brand new journey for their lives.

* * *

**Author Note:**** Ooh wee, Cat is with child! And Robbie's apparently the father ;-) Well, I suppose this chapter was a natural conclusion after all the hot lovin' that Cabbie have been putting on each other in the story so far. No fun things like contraception or condoms for you 19th century folk! **

**I'm starting to wonder why most of my romance fanfics end up having pregnancy in it somehow. Does that mean I have 'baby fever' again? I thought I got vaccinated for good last time *shakes my fist at the pesky baby fever gods***

**This is indeed a wonderful reality that Robbie's living in - and one where Cat willingly gives him the good Mclovin' too. **

**That is the dream right there. **

**I need to get myself a similar kind of situation. With Cat, but not the farming stuff because I'd be the first farmer who kills all of my crops before harvest. **

**Maybe Cat and I could start a Bibble farm instead...? **

**That might just be the inspiration for my next fanfic :-P **

**Tootles! **


	12. Birth

**Author Note:**** Helloooo, Shoppers! Did all of you manage to turn up on a Tuesday? And if you did, can you teach me how to do it too? **

**So Cat just found out she was pregnant last chapter and the title of this new chapter is pretty obvious. **

**That means you pretty much all know what this chapter will be about. So you probably won't need to keep reading because the title essentially spoils everything. **

**Just kidding, of course you should all still read this chapter anyway. **

**It's imperative for keeping my self-esteem levels at optimum levels. I can only do so much fantasising about Ariana serving me Grande coffees from Starbucks wearing nothing but a Bibble necklace to keep me flying high. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Victorious_ or the zany characters from this hilarious show. If I did, I would certainly find out why Cat enjoyed a spanking from Tori so much in season 3. It's, erm...for research. **

* * *

Save for Jade, everyone else who heard that Cat and Robbie were going to have a baby were ecstatic by the news.

Naturally, Robbie guessed at Jade's true feelings the day the doctor had stopped by their home to check on Cat. A few weeks after most of the townsfolk found out that Cat was pregnant, Jade confirmed her ire for Robbie by saying:

"It is the greatest pity that Cat has now been afflicted with your spawn inside of her."

"Jade!" Cat exclaimed indignantly.

"Ignore her, dear Robbie," Tori chided with a bright smile, being sure to elbow Jade pointedly in the ribs as she spoke. "I'm sure yours and Caterina's spawn will be an adorable bundle of joy."

"Not helpful in the least, Tori," Cat quipped with a scowl on her lovely face.

Still, all things considered, Robbie was happy about his and Cat's new situation. His grandmother was over the moon too and had already begun an arduous campaign of transforming the spare bedroom into a nursery for the baby.

It had taken some doing, but the eldest of the Shapiros managed to have her first born's aged crib shipped to the Americas all the way from Germany where Robbie's jewish ancestors had once resided. Mat too was hard at work gathering some of Cat and Rat's old toys for the baby to play with along with knitting several items of clothing for the baby to wear.

For Robbie's part, he made sure that Cat no longer did any sort of strenuous activity that would hurt her back or her feet as her baby bump grew larger and larger in the coming months. Cat was both touched and frustrated with Robbie's caring nature in this respect, mainly because she didn't want to lie around all day long and 'rest'. She'd always been an active girl and enjoyed experiencing life in living colour as it happened. As happy as she was that she and Robbie would soon be bringing a new life into the world, resting indefinitely was a drawback to her usual vivacity.

So after lots of senseless bickering on the matter, Robbie finally agreed to be less strict with Cat's movements and only intervened when he felt that she was taking on too much vigorous activity, particularly with managing the farm.

He even enlisted the help of their farm hands to bring suitable chairs and other creature comforts from the house for Cat to use while she helped Robbie with their daily chores. Robbie insisted that Cat wasn't to climb any more trees and did the former himself, handing the apples carefully to his wife to check and sort through.

Cat still insisted on cooking and point-blank refused to get someone from the village to assist her in this regard. And while the food simmered away on the stove, she spent hours sitting at the kitchen table and working on her latest project: knitting a lavender-coloured giraffe whom she had fondly named 'Mr. Purple' for her unborn child.

Robbie had no idea why Cat had decided to knit a giraffe of all things and not a more commonplace teddy bear that most infants in Northridge had in their possession. Then again, Cat's 'pregnancy hormones' had finally kicked in after her first trimester and he grew more and more confused by Cat's lack of practicality and logic.

This happened a lot when she tried to feed the cows their own milk instead of milking them and tried to gather eggs from several bleating sheep instead of from the hens.

And worst of all, she would start crying for no apparent reason on random occasions. Like when Robbie offered to make breakfast for the two of them one day and cracked the eggs open; Cat wailed inconsolably when this occurred, saying that her husband was cruel for ending the lives of so many chicks before they could take flight. And then she cried even more when he didn't want to take any of the bruised apples they'd picked to market, accusing him of only liking apples and other things when they were beautiful and unblemished.

After all, didn't the bad apples have just as much right to be sent to market and eaten by people willing to overlook their unsightly brown bruises?

Robbie could hardly make any sense of it all. But to his credit, he never showed his aggravation and apologized meekly to Cat time and time again, kissing her forehead and hugging her tightly so she'd know that he loved her dearly.

They also had plenty of lively and good moments between them too while Cat was pregnant. They still went for regular strolls and picnicked by the pond near Northridge Abbey. Cat's maternal nature had kicked in even more while she was pregnant. Robbie watched in a mesh of delight and pride the way that Cat welcomed the yellow, grey and brown ducklings who waddled curiously towards her. She never threw the pieces of bread at them; she chose instead to let them eat from the palm of her outstretched hand as a sign that she meant them no harm. Robbie marveled at the fact that the mother duck never seemed threatened by Cat coddling her young ducklings; it was almost as if the two female mammals had a secret understanding about motherhood that had blossomed unexpectedly between them.

It was a treat to Robbie to see how much this activity made his wife deliriously happy. Her smile stretched across her lovely face each time and she laughed and clapped her hands when the ducklings would follow their mother back to the cool and muddy waters of the pond.

Sometimes he would catch Cat gazing longingly at the way that the mother duck cleaned her children's muddy feathers with her beak and herded them back into the water for their afternoon bathing ritual. In those moments, Robbie would rub his hand over Cat's pregnancy bulge and kiss her cheek, telling her repeatedly that their time would come and he knew without a shred of doubt that she was going to be an excellent mother herself.

The most surprising change in Cat came during her third trimester when she approached him in the evenings, dressed for bed and wearing a playful smirk on her face. Robbie's whole body shivered with anticipation whenever Cat would lean in extra close to him and nibble his ear just the way he liked and lead him upstairs to their bedroom.

At first, Robbie was uncertain of how to make love to Cat now that there was literally another person between them. But after a few false starts, he learnt a new rhythm for his wife during this time in their lives and it made him excruciatingly happy to still bring her pleasure in this regard. He marveled at her keen whimpers of pleasure when he would lavish her massive belly with sweet kisses before attending to her carnal needs with his eager body. She seemed far more desperate for Robbie's physical love in her current state, which made him even more besotted with her as time went on.

He had thought that their lovemaking before this had been exquisite; but now…a deeper understanding had grown between him and Cat while she was pregnant. She intuitively sensed when he needed instant gratification and was all too willing to give it to him, particularly after a hard day's work when he was in desperate need of relaxation. He was more than happy to let her take charge in the bedroom; he groaned in painstaking need whenever she would settle on top of him and pepper his pale chest with amorous kisses, her nimble fingers creeping lower and stealthily over the rest of his body to where he wanted her most.

Cat seemed at her most insatiable while she was pregnant; Robbie almost wished that her gestation period would continue longer than 9 miserable months.

But when her 8th month finally arrived and Cat could no longer do menial tasks without her feeling swelling up and hurting, she was more than ready for the baby to finally be born. Her growing discomfort with that life growing inside was made more apparent at the snarky comments Robbie caught Cat aiming at her belly, grumbling for the baby to stop kicking her and making her urinate in a chamber pot for the umpteenth time that day.

Still, Cat was extraordinarily happy, particularly when she, Robbie and the baby had some quiet time to themselves away from their friends and family. She loved it best when Robbie did his best to entertain both her and the baby. She wasn't wholly comfortable when Rex appeared and made many a strange and insulting comment, particularly about her pregnant body. Robbie rued the day that Cat cried despairingly when Rex said she was so fat, she could convincingly play the main character in _Moby Dick _and get harpooned for her troubles.

After that unfortunate incident, Rex was relegated back to his perch in the living room.

Robbie decided to only entertain Cat and the baby by playing guitar and singing for them from then on. Cat certainly appreciated this more than Rex's attempts at humour. She smiled warmly every time that Robbie attempted to talk to the baby, albeit nervously and awkwardly. While she knitted the remains of Mr. Purple at the dining room table, Robbie would incline his head towards her belly and talk to the baby about things happening on Valentine Farm and Northridge itself. He even told the baby about some of Jadelyn's more sadistic and ridiculous antics, which always made Cat laugh aloud while she did her knitting. Her eyes would mist up with unshed tears whenever Robbie spoke to the baby in soft murmurs of Hebrew, singing several Yiddish lullabies that his mother had sung to him in his crib once upon a time. These were treasured moments to Cat. During those times, she thanked God and her parents the most for sending Robbie to her.

The day that Cat's water finally broke was a day like most others. They were both outside in the apple orchard, checking through a cluster of apples that had been ruined by pests.

While Robbie counted each ruined apple, Cat gasped suddenly behind him. He wheeled around sharply and saw his wife clutching her stomach, her brown eyes opened wide and staring in horror at her feet. His gaze followed hers and he frowned in confusion at the soil in front of her that was suddenly very wet.

"Cat, what is it?"

"Robbie, I think…my water broke…"

"What water? You brought water out with you?"

"No, Robbie! The water that came from inside my stomach is now on the ground…" Cat hissed, gritting her teeth afterwards as a sharp spasm of pain shot through her abdomen.

"Water from your stomach-"

Robbie stopped his own words as he gazed in horror at Cat's hunched over features and thought of the implications of her previous words.

"Wait, Cat, does this mean-"

"Yes! The baby is coming!"

Robbie honestly thought he'd never heard five more terrifying words come out of another human's words before this, save for when his grandmother used to say, 'Robbie, time for your haircut'.

He stood in muted astonishment for a few more seconds before he finally sprung into action, barking at one of the farm hands standing closest to the barn to bring the wagon out. He knew he could've easily carried Cat himself, but they were more than 100 yards away from the house and she needed to be taken there as quickly as possible.

"Everything will be alright, my darling," Robbie chided in what he hoped was a soothing voice, gripping his wife's hand tightly in his while he led her to the wagon.

But in truth, his heart was palpitating with fear, thinking of a million things that could go wrong before Cat was able to give birth to their child.

"Robbie, the doctor and the mid-wife must be sent for immediately," Cat mumbled in several agonized breaths.

Robbie nodded swiftly and barked out the order to another farm hand while he and the nearest one lifted Cat into the wagon.

It took more than an hour for the doctor and the mid-wife to arrive. But during that time, Nana Shapiro had taken over with helping Cat, barking orders at her grandson to bring towels and as much hot water as he could carry as they readied themselves for the birth.

Robbie and the farm hand had placed Cat on the dining room table, propping her head up with pillows from their bedroom and laying several towels underneath her. Robbie's stomach became very squeamish at the large crimson patches over all the lower parts of Cat's beautiful green dress. But he pushed his nausea aside in light of the fact that his wife's brow was bathed in sweat and her face became distorted with unspeakable pain at regular intervals.

"Cat, my love, tell me what I can to do to ease your pain?" Robbie asked in dismay, wiping at his wife's sweaty forehead with a cool rag as often as possible.

"You can start by not treating her like a broken doll," Nana Shapiro snapped impatiently. "Caterina Valentine is a woman, and a brave one at that. She is only doing what women before her have done for centuries: bringing people into the world through blood, sweat and tears."

"I'd rather not think about all the blood and sweat if you please, Nana."

"Well, tough kumquats! That is half of your blood and sweat coming out of your wife's hoohah, Bubbeleh!"

"Please stop arguing. I'm already in so much pain and your irritating voices aren't helping matters," Cat protested in a mad huff.

"See? She's absolutely fine!" Nana Shapiro proclaimed happily, not offended in the least by Cat's words.

Robbie heaved an internal sigh of relief when the doctor and mid-wife finally arrived. Mainly because he'd taken to holding Cat's hand while helping her count the minutes between each painful contraction. But she'd begun squeezing his fingers so hard, he worried that they were slightly sprained.

"How are you doing today, Young Caterina?" the doctor asked in a kindly voice.

"I'm in the worst agony of my life because of his hellish spawn growing inside of me – thank you kindly!" Cat snapped irately. "And it's all his fault," she added in a venomous tone, pointing an accusing finger at Robbie as she spoke.

"My fault? But yesterday, you said you couldn't be happier about having my child inside of you," Robbie protested, feeling genuinely hurt by his wife's words.

"I only said that because you let me eat red velvet cupcakes instead of supper last night!"

"Caterina, be reasonable. All of this will soon pass – it's only a little bit of pain…"

Robbie's last words caused Cat, Nana Shapiro, the midwife and even the doctor to stare at him in a mesh of wonderment and disdain.

"Only. A. Little. Bit. Of. Pain?" Cat demanded in stilted breaths.

"Oh, now you've done it, Bubbeleh…" Nana Shapiro muttered, slapping a palm against her forehead in the process.

"If you think this isn't so bad, maybe I should make you eat 20 apples and then have you push them all out of your posterior at the same time!"

"Caterina, darling, that's simply impossible!"

"Not from where I'm standing," the midwife mumbled, giving Robbie her iciest glare.

"But I only meant that –"

"Son, it's best not to say another word." The doctor advised with a tight smile, giving Robbie a gentle pat on the shoulder.

After that, Robbie knew not to say anything out of place save to give Cat encouragement wherever possible as the morning turned into afternoon, and then into the dusky hour of early evening.

Candles were lit repeatedly while Cat strained and cried out in pain.

"Caterina, the baby's head has fully emerged! You have to push with all your might now!" the doctor urged, his own brow furrowed with concentration and tiny beads of sweat as he stood in front of Cat's lower body.

"I can't, it hurts too much…" Cat whimpered, her cheeks tainted with fresh tears.

"Cat, it will be alright," Robbie chided in a calming tone.

He was back at her side again, letting her numb his fingers with how tight she was squeezing his hand.

"Nana was right before. Besides my own mother, you are the bravest and strongest women I've ever known. I can't even imagine what our child is doing to your beautiful body right now, but you must do your best for him or her. Once all of this is over, I promise that I will always be here to help you take care of our child. You are my wife and I love you – you can do this!" Robbie urged with conviction he didn't realise he possessed.

Cat looked at her husband through bleary eyes and smiled despite the agony wracking her body repeatedly. They nodded together in silent agreement and Cat began pushing with all of her might.

It was the most terrifying experience of Robbie's entire life, hearing the screams of everyone in the room along with his own.

But it was even more horrifying when all the screaming stopped save for one that was quieter and so foreign to his ringing ears.

They were the screams of a brand new infant leaving its mother's warm and comforting womb. And that same infant cried in a mesh of agony and bewilderment at the cold enveloping it from every angle, wishing it could return to that sweet, liquescent pouch it had called home for 9 months.

As the doctor held the infant in his arms, Robbie gazed at the child's lower half, realizing in muted awe that they shared similar reproductive organs.

It was a boy.

Cat had given him a sweet little boy.

He would live, love and carry on the Shapiro name long after his father had left the Earth.

The enormity of that realization made Robbie weep, hoping against everything that his son would always be happy in this life as the doctor gave him over to Cat to hold.

"This is your son, Robert and Caterina." The doctor introduced, a happy smile planted onto his tired face.

Nana Shapiro was weeping uncontrollably as she laid eyes on her great-grandson, praising God that she had lived long enough to see this day.

"Hi, baby," Cat greeted her first born child, her brown eyes shining with happiness as the baby gurgled in confusion and gripped her thumb with surprising strength in his tiny fist.

"I'm your mother, Cat. And this is your father, Robbie. Can you say 'Cat' and 'Robbie'?" Cat asked nonsensically, making funny faces at the baby who had just come out of her.

She gazed up lovingly at her husband, who was still sobbing beside her. "Would you like to hold him?"

Robbie was terrified to do so, but nodded all the same as Cat gingerly lifted the baby and the blanket he was now shrouded in towards her husband.

Robbie was amazed that his child felt so whole and heavy. He had big brown eyes and thick eyelids which were half closed as he lay in his father's arms for the first time. He had tiny wisps of shiny, black hair on his scalp and ten fingers and ten toes that were practically microscopic.

He was already a living and breathing person all his own.

"Hello…son," Robbie greeted hoarsely, cursing himself for weeping more than the baby in the moment.

"He's our son," Cat agreed, crying silently right along with Robbie.

"He's perfect," Robbie confessed, laughing through his tears as he held his son. Then he gazed down at Cat once more, feeling his eyes stinging mercilessly with so much emotion. "I love you," he whispered intensely.

Cat cried even more at this, laughing right along with Robbie as they gave vent to all of their feelings in this special moment. "I love you more."

Robbie then let Cat hold their baby so he could lean over her and capture her lips in a sweet and unhurried kiss which translated all of his devotion and more.

* * *

**Author Note:**** And thus, a star - I mean, child was born :-P I hope Boris Yeltsin enjoyed the more modern English that Nana Shapiro and the midwife used in this chapter to burn Robbie ;-) **

**Cabbie have gotten married, fallen in love, experienced the sexuals and now they have a cute son. To me, that is the definition of 'marital bliss'. **

**Ok, time to take a wazz break and play more 'Need for Speed: Most Wanted' on my Playstation Vita. Can it, that console is still relevant and every bit as good as Xbox if not more. And it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I earn a teacher's salary and can't afford a bigger video game console at this time in my life. **

**You're not the only ones out there with dreams and perspirations!**

**Tootles! **


	13. Fables

**Author Note:**** What it do, my woes? And by 'woes', I mean my friends and not my deepest and darkest despair, apparently. **

**I don't think I get Drake at all as an artist. **

**Thank you so much for all the lovely reviews! You guys keep me flying high :-D **

**And now onto the 13th chapter, which won't be filled with bad luck (scout's honour)!**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own _Victorious_ or the zany characters in this hilarious show. If I did, Cat Valentine would've laughed a little less at well...everything. Life is only sometimes funny, with emphasis on 'sometimes'.**

* * *

It took close to a month for Robbie and Cat to decide and agree on a name that they both liked for their son. In the end, he was finally Christened (upon Pat, Mat and Minister Eikner's insistence) Samuel Tug (Cat had chosen the middle name simply because she liked boats) Shapiro.

Cat and Robbie had a hard time adjusting to the new human in their home who cried and whined more than Nana Shapiro for the first six months of his life. But once they finally got into a routine of awakening and resting with Sam, things became a little easier for the exhausted married couple.

Sam began to sleep better at night, which helped Cat and Robbie immensely.

It was even more satisfying when he would take his afternoon naps in the wagon, filled with hay just for this occasion and the adorable baby snoring away in his shroud of blankets that Mat had knitted especially for him.

Robbie initially didn't take too kindly to the occasions when Sam was actually awake in the afternoons and Rat would tie him to his back with his baby blanket and scale full grown apple trees with the baby. But Robbie soon discovered that his brother-in-law was unusually responsible when was he looking after his nephew.

Not to mention the fact that Rat seemed to be the only person who could get Sam to stop crying, particularly during his abhorrent 'teething' phase later on in his little life.

Sam did seem to especially like his eccentric uncle, which gave Cat and Robbie plenty of times to sneak in afternoon naps themselves while Rat took care of Sam.

Through all of this, Robbie, Cat and Sam become a closely knit family, doing all kinds of activities together.

While Robbie had always known that Cat would take to motherhood like a duck to water, Cat had also known all along how good a father Robbie would make once he stopped playing with Rex so much.

Robbie still brought Rex out on occasions to entertain Sam; Cat was amazed when Rex tempered his snarky remarks around Sam and the baby in turn giggled loudly and tweaked the worn puppet's nose in a real show of affection. Robbie watched all of this with real delight, bouncing both Sam and Rex on his knees while he entertained the baby with amusing stories and comical impersonations. While Sam loved the rhythmic movement of being bounced on his father's knee, Rex always fixed Robbie with a look of contempt whenever he too was treated like a little child.

Robbie often walked into the kitchen during the afternoons to take a breath from either picking apples or feeding the other farm animals. And he would smile whenever he caught sight of Cat holding little Sam in her arms and twirling around the kitchen with him, giving his tiny nose an affectionate Eskimo kiss while she sang happily to him.

Time seemed to go by very quickly after this and it wasn't long before Sam was crawling, walking and then running as fast as he could through the billowing meadows of Northridge. He had a thirst for curiosity like his mother and enjoyed exploring the emerald landscapes on his own, which made Robbie worry a lot. But the little boy always found his way back home and his father would heave a sigh of relief whenever he hugged his son each time.

It wasn't long before Young Sam Shapiro was 5 years old and finally attending school. Cat cried buckets of tears when Sam stood before her in his grown-up school uniform with his haversack hanging on one shoulder. She had picked a rose-tinted apple just for the occasion and her son had placed it neatly on top of his books and miniature black board he was meant to practice his sums on.

But Robbie made sure to take Cat to the marketplace after Sam saw himself to school for his first day and played many a happy tune on his guitar just for her, which soon had the red-haired beauty smiling broadly again.

It was tentative at first, but Sam finally got used to being at school and amongst children his own age. Though he was naturally shy like his father, he had a kind and friendly character which naturally drew young children to him. He made lots of friends after a short time and was a good student too, excelling particularly in Arithmetic and Geography.

Where his mother had once dreamt of being an Indian princess, Sam had higher aspirations: he wanted to be a pirate.

Discovering unchartered lands and collecting as much booty as could fit into his little hands.

For the most part, Sam was an obedient and happy young boy.

But on one particular occasion when he came from school and Robbie and Cat were setting the table for dinner, their son came home with dirt and tears smeared onto his rosy cheeks, looking disheveled and put out about something.

Sam sulked all throughout an excellent dinner of roast beef, steamed vegetables and wild turnip soup. And after he dutifully cleaned up his plate, he ran to his bedroom.

Robbie and Cat looked at each other with worry etched onto their faces before they wordlessly followed their son.

Sam was now lying on his bed, hugging Mr. Purple tightly to his chest, which alarmed Cat even more. Sam had been very attached to the woollen giraffe when he was a young infant and hadn't played with him in recent years.

He only ever held Mr. Giraffe now when he was upset about something.

"Tug? You didn't take your bath directly after dinner…" Cat began in a soft murmur. She sat tentatively on the rocking chair in the corner of the room; it was a piece of furniture Nana Shapiro had also shipped from Germany many years before along with the ancient crib Sam had slept in for the first two years of his life.

"I don't feel like it…" Sam announced in a petulant voice.

"Now, Tug," Robbie began firmly, deciding to take the reins here. "You always have to feel like taking a bath."

Sam sighed loudly in response, which made him sound like a very old man. Robbie took pity on his son and sat on the edge of his bed, fixing the young boy with a warm smile.

"Your Mama and I noticed that you've been down ever since you came home earlier. Did something happen earlier to upset you so?"

"I had a lousy day at school," Sam supplied, his grip on Mr. Purple like that of steel clamps.

"Well, don't keep Mama and I in suspense. What happened today, Tug?"

"Susie-Jo called me a 'Nancy Boy' and kicked me in my special place." Sam complained, his bottom lip quivering like he was about to start crying.

Cat's own brown eyes swam with tears while Robbie sighed exactly like his son had done a moment before.

"Of course she did," Robbie scoffed, rolling his eyes at the ceiling.

Jadelyn West had given birth to Susie-Jo a year after Cat gave birth to Sam. With her jet black hair, crystal blue eyes and the vilest temper of any child in Northridge, Susan Joanna Oliver was the spitting image of her mother.

"That was very naughty of Susie," Cat remarked in a slow voice after processing this information from her son. "I'll need to have a word with Jade about this," she added in a stern voice.

"Like that will help matters. You know Jade will just dismiss Susie-Jo's behavior and tell Beck to buy her another pair of scissors to calm her down," Robbie said in a scathing tone.

It was still a wonder to him that Jade and Beck had finally married after all this time. He couldn't honestly imagine another couple less suited to each other than the two of them. They rarely communicated unless it involved an ugly and public fight, which made everyone in the near vicinity extremely uncomfortable. Still, their combined wealth made for a powerful business alliance. And the fact that the two seemed to enjoy groping each other even more than fighting in public spoke volumes about the exact nature of their amorous connection.

"Papa, why are Northridge girls so mean?" Sam asked with a pout on his lips that reminded Robbie of his mother.

"Not all Northridge girls are mean, Tug," Robbie assured his son. "Take Mama for example: she's certainly the sweetest girl I've ever known, and she was born and bred right here in Northridge."

"Flatterer," Cat quipped in her husband's direction, but with a giant smile on her face. She had grabbed a pair of Sam's worn socks from a nearby drawer and had begun mending them under the dim candle light while sitting in the rocking chair.

"But Mama's not a girl," Sam whined, which made Robbie chuckle. "And she's also Mama, that doesn't count."

"Of course it counts, Tug. I'm sure Mama wasn't always sweet when she was Susie-Jo's age."

"It's true, I wasn't," Cat agreed readily. "I often liked to pour water on your Uncle Rat's trousers and tell your grandparents that he wet himself."

"You did?" Sam asked with renewed eagerness, forgetting momentarily that he was meant to be angry with Jade Oliver's spawn of a daughter.

"I did other mean things to Uncle Rat too: like sneaking frogs into his bed and putting marmalade in his hand while he slept and then tickling his cheeks afterwards so he'd make his face dirty and sticky." Cat confessed, blushing a deep shade of red at her own recollections.

"But, Mama, why did you do such bad things?"

"For sweet revenge of course," Cat answered innocently, which made Robbie a tad afraid and aroused simultaneously. "Uncle Rat made me cry ever so hard when he told me there was no Father Christmas when I was your age. Plus, my hair was even longer back then too, and he loved to tug on it hard and call me 'Raddish Head'."

"Wow, Uncle Rat was really mean to you," Sam murmured in awe.

"He was," Cat agreed yet again while Robbie mouthed 'Raddish Head' to himself with the utmost confusion. "But Tug, children are sometimes mean to each other. But like with Uncle Rat and I, we grew out of our mutual meanness and learnt to like and love each other." Cat concluded with surprising wisdom.

"Oh, I could never like or love Susie-Jo, Mama," Sam protested. "I just know that she will be mean till she goes to heaven," he added, shuddering outwardly at the thought.

"That may be true," Robbie agreed, ignoring the indignant look on his wife's face at his words. "But like it or not, you and Susie-Jo will be at school together for a long time to come. So you're going to have to find a way to deal with her in gentleman-like fashion." He reasoned.

"But how can I do that, Papa? Even when I ick-nore Susie-Jo, she gets in my face and stomps on my foot so I'll look at her and she can say more mean things to me." Sam moaned in despair.

"I never said it would be easy to be a gentleman to a girl like that, Tug. Why not think of it this way: maybe Susie-Jo is paying you such close attention because she secretly fancies you." Robbie offered.

"Susie-Jo fancies me? Oh no, that's worse than her hating me!" Sam wailed, squeezing Mr. Purple even harder.

"Not necessarily, Tug," Cat chimed in. "Some girls are only mean to the boys they like. Maybe Susie-Jo feels most comfortable expressing herself to you in this manner."

"I don't know…" Sam trailed off.

But his pensive frown meant that he was focusing less on being miserable about a girl teasing him, which mollified his parents for now.

"It's possible, Tug. Wouldn't it be a lark if you and Susie-Jo grew to like each other over time and even got married? Now that would be a fun tale to tell." Cat declared, her imagination taking over in the moment.

"Mama…" Sam whined, but more adorably this time as he disavowed his mother of any ideas pairing him and Susie-Jo together.

"Don't worry about Susie-Jo, my boy," Robbie said, giving his son's knee a reassuring pat. "You do your best to be a gentleman to her from now on. And if she kicks you in your special place again, you just kick her right back in her special place too."

"Robbie!" Cat protested.

"Only joking, my love," Robbie replied with weak laughter in his wife's direction.

But the look he and Sam exchanged a moment later proved just how serious his previous words had been.

"Now that we've sorted out what to do with Susie-Jo, it's time for a bath."

"Aww, but, Mama –"

"That wasn't a request, Samuel." Cat interjected firmly, pursing her lips together afterwards.

Sam groaned, but got up from the bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready for his toilette.

"I do so enjoy it when you take charge," Robbie praised his wife.

He smirked when Cat let out a slightly indignant, but pleasurable guffaw nonetheless when he smacked her on the bottom right afterwards.

An hour later, Sam had finished washing himself and changed into his cotton pyjamas. He now lay low under the covers of his bed, staring expectantly at his parents.

"Now that I've bathed, I want to hear a story."

"You're not too old to hear stories for little babies?" Robbie asked in amusement.

"Not if it has pirates in it," Sam proclaimed with exuberance.

His grasp on Mr. Purple had loosened as he sat upright in his bed to hear a story from his parents.

"Well, alright," Robbie agreed readily. "Have we ever told you the story about the…blobby banker?"

He shot a glance at Cat who grinned mischievously back at him as they sat together on the edge of Sam's bed.

That had been one of the first stories she'd ever told him in the early stages of their marriage. It had stayed ingrained in Robbie's mind ever since, and that was mainly because the amusing tale had made him fall desperately in love with Cat soon after.

"Who's the blobby banker? Is he a ghost?" Sam asked in awe, already riveted by the beginning of the tale.

"Well, no, he's not a ghost. But, uh…he's very fat and…greedy," Robbie continued, casting hapless looks in his wife's direction.

"Oh yes, he's very fat, Tug. Fatter than Daisy the cow," Cat agreed, widening her eyes for emphasis as she joined in with telling the story.

"Is the blobby banker mean too?" Sam asked of his parents.

"Oh, the meanest!" Cat exclaimed. "He's so mean he makes babies everywhere cry!"

"Precisely! Babies cry when they look at his face. It's so ugly because…it's full of scars from his days as a pirate!" Robbie ventured.

He gave Cat a subtle shrug when she stared in confusion at him.

"Wow, a pirate and a banker! I bet he made a lot of enemies," Sam offered.

"He sure did, Tug. He made the Indians mad too." Cat explained.

"How did he do that?"

"Because he stole all the gold they kept in their teepees! And worst of all, he stole the delicious yams they grew during the harvest and ate them all!"

"No!" Sam cried in horror.

"Yes!" Cat and Robbie chorused dramatically, continuing to regale their adorable son with the scandalous tale of the Blobby Banker.

"I bet the Indians shot him with lots of arrows," Sam mused, getting more lost in the narrative.

Cat and Robbie shared a private smile with each other at this part. Then they blushed ever so slightly as they recollected that day when they counted clouds and identified the strange shapes they made in the sky, including that of the infamous blobby banker.

"Oh yes, Tug. And after they killed the greedy banker, they impaled his blobby body on a totem pole as a warning to other folk not to cross them. He lost some of his blobby body in the end; but that was only because the vultures pecked at him and dined on his fatty flesh for 10 years…" Cat trailed off. She tilted her head to the side, her brown eyes looking black and haunted like that of a zombie. Her voice had dropped to a low, hoarse murmur as she told the tale. Her words were filled with such eerie melancholy designed to make even the bravest person's hairs stand on end in abject terror.

Robbie found that like their son, he couldn't take his eyes off of Cat.

She was a phenomenal story-teller.

He really adored her beautiful and creative mind.

Luckily, Sam didn't look frightened. On the contrary, he was hanging onto his mother's every word, sucking at the proverbial teat of her twisted and unique imagination.

"Brilliant…" he trailed off, licking his lips in anticipation for what came next in the story.

Cat glanced at Robbie and shot him a sly wink as she carried on telling the rest of the scary tale to their son.

And Robbie was happy to let Cat do just that, since it gave him time to mouth the words 'I love you' whenever their eyes met again.

* * *

**Author Note:**** I hope you all like Cat and Robbie's son :'-) And yes, his name is Sam Tug *laughs self-consciously* I thought it would be, um...fun and possibly humorous? No? Just me then who thought it was fun and funny? **

**I'll see myself out. **

**The Story of the Blobby Banker is a reference from the fifth chapter 'Daydreams' in which Robbie and Cat count clouds and make weird shapes out of those clouds. I hope that story made you all feel nostalgic the good way :-P **

**Time for lunch and back to watching one of my favourite rom-coms, 'What's Up, Doc?' with Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neill. The script is so silly and clever simultaneously, it also makes me itch to write a version of that movie as a Cabbie fanfic. Maybe that'll be my next story and not my previous story of Cat Valentine and I running a Bibble Farm. **

**Still...feeding Bibble to Cat 24-7 would be my wheel house. I'm a thirsty hamster that way. **

**Tootles! **


	14. Misfortunate

**Author Note:**** Hello, Fanfic Readers! I'm making plans to fly out of China in the next few days to go home and see my family. In-between packing and buying necessities for my trip, I'm going to keep uploading more chapters for this story. There are 19 in total, so hopefully the complete story will be available here on FF by tomorrow :-D **

**Thanks again for the reviews, you guys are awesome!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Victorious_ or the zany characters from this hilarious show. If I did, I would've explored more of the romantic pairings hinted at in the show like Tori/Beck, Tori/Jade (lmfao) Cat/Robbie and even Jade/Andre because that fourth pairing was so out of left field and hilarious in season 2. **

* * *

Two more years flew by after this. Sam was excelling just as much at school as before and had begun to delve deeper into his whimsical imagination, much like his mother.

So much so that Minister Eikner kept his eye on the youngest Shapiro, stroking his beard pensively as winter approached in Northridge.

When the first week of December finally came, Sam came sprinting into his family home. His cheeks were rosy from the frosty air and his soft brown eyes danced with excitement. A thin blanket of snow had settled over the apple trees on Valentine Farm. Snow was unusual for this region of California, which had some of the famers in Northridge extremely worried. And yet, Cat couldn't help delighting in the sight of the snow; it made the apples look like they'd been dipped in white tufts of sugar.

"Mama, Papa! Guess what! Minister Eikner wants me to act in the Christmas play!" Sam proclaimed happily, knocking his boots one at a time against the edge of the front door to loosen dirt and snow clinging to the soles.

He'd never been asked to do something of this magnitude by an adult before. And helping Nana Shapiro to clean her false teeth before her untimely passing the year before certainly didn't count.

"Tug, that's wonderful news!" Cat cried happily, enveloping her son in a tight hug and raining scores of loving kisses across his cheeks and forehead. "But we'll need to do something about your hair before the play though…" she murmured half to herself.

Sam certainly took after his father with his voluminous, jet black curly hair that couldn't be tamed by a comb or brush for very long. Still, with his round, rosy cheeks that dimpled when he smiled, Samuel Shapiro pulled off the look quite easily.

"Papa, did you hear the good news? Tug's going to act in the Christmas play!" Cat called out to Robbie, who was somewhere in the house.

Robbie finally emerged from their bedroom, winding his way down the ancient, wooden staircase which creaked with each of his sluggish footfalls.

For the briefest moment, Cat stared aghast at her husband. Not only did he look tired, but his usually pale features were wan and waxed with illness.

Before she could say anything, Robbie had arranged his face into a bright smile as he moved forward to hug his son and give him a doting kiss on the top of his tiny head.

"Sammy! How's my boy? How was school today?" Robbie asked in an engaging tone, already looking far better than when he'd first descended the stairs.

"It was great, Papa! Did you hear my good news?" Sam asked eagerly.

"Minister Eikner wants Sam to act in the Nativity play this year," Cat informed her husband with a proud smile.

Robbie's smile echoed that of his wife's as he got on his haunches to gaze at his son. "Is that a fact? I always knew that my son was the most talented boy in all of Northridge. Put it there, partner!" he guffawed.

Cat giggled when father and son spat into their hands and did a facetious handshake that was indicative of many of the travelers who passed through Northridge during the course of the year from some of the more ungovernable regions of the US.

"And what role are you going to play, Tug?" Robbie asked, ruffling his son's hair after their silly handshake was complete.

"He wants me to play one of the Magi. Papa, what's a Magi?" Sam asked curiously.

"Why, that's only one of the most important parts in the Nativity play, Tug! The Magi is a king who has lot of gold," Robbie explained.

"And he wears a funny hat," Cat supplied facetiously.

"But aren't kings really smart? Won't I have to say a lot of big words if I'm to be one of the Magi?" Sam asked, nervousness suddenly creasing his forehead.

"Aww, don't worry too much about that, Tug. Papa and I will help you learn your lines and practice all those big scary words." Cat assured their son.

"Exactly! And I'm sure you can ask Grandma Mat if she'll knit you a big and funny hat too just for the play," Robbie added, shooting his wife a wink.

That seemed to settle matters for Sam as he regained his former excitement about the Christmas play.

"I'll go put my school books in my room!" Sam announced shortly after.

"Don't forget to wash up before dinner!" Robbie called after his son's retreating form.

He smiled at his son's silhouette one last time before taking a seat at the kitchen table.

Robbie gave a slight jolt when he felt Cat hug him from behind. It wasn't long before her dainty hands had moved upwards and began massaging his temples in a soothing pattern.

"You're feeling sick again, aren't you?" she asked quietly, her fingers moving in a circular motion over Robbie's skin.

Robbie sighed loudly, but continued smiling at his wife's careful ministrations. "It's only a slight headache, my love."

"You've been getting a lot of headaches recently," Cat noted, her eyes pinched with worry. "You were barely able to get through your chores earlier before you had to take a rest."

"I'm alright, Cat," Robbie chided, removing one of Cat's hands from his face so he could kiss it instead.

"I really wish you would let me get the doctor to take a look at you."

"It's not necessary, my darling. Besides, we have far too much work to do before the end of the year. But I promise you this: once we send more animals and apples to market at the end of December, I will let a doctor attend to me then." Robbie assured his wife.

"Cross your heart and hope to die?" Cat asked, an adorable frown painted on her lovely face.

Robbie chuckled and turned around so he could press his lips lightly to Cat's, her mouth tasting soft and sweet just like always.

Cat chuckled too when Robbie smiled afterwards and made an 'X' shape with his fingers over his chest.

After that, time seemed to whizz by like those blitzing new steam trains that scared the stuffing out of countryfolk with their bellowing smoke and screeching whistles. Robbie was certainly correct in his assertions about how much work needed to be done on the farm before the end of the year. While getting their produce ready for market, Cat and Robbie stayed true to their word and helped Sam rehearse and recite his lines for the Christmas Nativity.

Still, Cat kept a sharp eye on Robbie throughout this period.

He insisted he was fine and managed to do his regular chores. And yet, there was something forced and stilted in his every movement which worried Cat to no end.

Robbie had complained about even more severe migraines in the last few weeks since Sam announced his participation in the play. Not only that, but his vision had become unusually blurry at inopportune moments, which made driving a wagon or riding a horse difficult for him. Robbie assured his wife that he was perfectly healthy and had no intention of missing their son's stellar performance as one of the Magi.

Robbie pretended not to notice Cat's worry and continued his daily chores. And when the weather was dry and devoid of icy winds and rain, he roughhoused with Sam out on the field beyond the family farm. He would toss a leathery pig skin back and forth with his son as they whiled away the last few hours of sunlight on those cool afternoons.

Finally, it was the evening of the Nativity Play and Sam was a vibrating bundle of excitement nerves. Cat helped her son dress in his best suit; when they arrived at the church later, he would then put on his elaborate Magi costume and big hat that Mat had made for him over his suit.

Even though Robbie readily agreed to go with Cat to Northridge Abbey to watch Sam act in the Nativity Play, Cat had half a mind to ask her husband to remain at home and rest.

"Nonsense! I'm right as rain," Robbie protested with a gruff smile on his face.

He made his point abundantly clear when he took Cat suddenly in his arms and waltzed around the kitchen with her laughing features before dipping her and kissing her sensually afterwards.

That seemed to put the matter to rest for the time being when Cat skipped upstairs to their bedroom to get dressed, her cheeks tinged with rouge at Robbie's ability to still make her swoon after all these years.

Northridge Abbey was packed to the rafters with all the townsfolk and proud parents who had come to watch their children perform in the Christmas Nativity. Minister Eikner stood near the church organ, biting his nails nervously all the while, praying to God in the heavens that Susie-Jo would remember all her lines.

He sincerely hoped the little girl could contain herself and be just as meek and obedient as the character she'd be playing, which happened to be the Virgin Mary.

While many of the children hiccoughed and stammered through their lines, Sam Shapiro was magnificent in his role of the Magi. He opened the contents of his makeshift chest of gold to present to Mary and Joseph and said his lines with gusto. He smiled broadly through the artificial beard that Cat had made with black horse-hair just for the occasion.

She and Robbie watched their son pour his heart and soul into the role they played, their feelings of love and pride gushing unbridled out of them.

And when the final scene ended on a rapturous climax and the children took their final bows, the Shapiros were the first on the feet, clapping exuberantly.

Sam caught his parents' eye and waved excitedly at them, looking cute as a button in his Magi costume.

Cat sobbed loudly, happy tears pouring out of her eyes as she clapped heartily for her son's charismatic performance.

"That's my boy! That's my son!" Robbie crowed in jubilation at his son's spectacular acting skills. He put his two middle fingers in his mouth and whistled sharply in his excitement as the curtains were finally closed.

Cat whooped in surprise when Robbie took her in his arms and spun her around soon after, ignoring the people standing all around him.

"That's our son!" he cried happily.

"He's our son!" Cat agreed, happiness shining through her eyes as she hugged her husband fiercely.

She finally disengaged herself to hug Jade, who had sat not too far from them in the crowd. Robbie continued laughing to himself, overcome with happiness at being able to see his son in the Christmas Nativity. His laughter rang in his ears like dull cow bells, clanging mercilessly against his pounding skull. The migraine had returned in full force, slicing through his nerve endings like a blunt axe. His head hurt so much, he felt sure it would burst, causing his brain to ooze out all over the church pews.

And yet, he'd never felt happier and more alive than in that singular moment.

"What a wonderful moment! What a blessed evening…" Robbie murmured happily to himself, his vision becoming blurry and asymmetrical.

He felt correct in his assertions about the outcome of the evening right until he passed out in the church, the world turning black all around him.

* * *

When Robbie finally came to later that night, he was back in his own bed at Valentine Farm. The same doctor who had delivered Sam nearly 7 years ago visited the farm the very next day to attend him. Cat held Robbie's hand in a vice-like grip while he lay in bed, tears falling from her cheeks and splashing onto her chin.

These tears were nothing like the night before while they'd rejoiced at their son's performance in the Nativity.

These silver droplets were only the beginning of many more heart-wrenching tears still to come.

Unlike the day that their son was born, the doctor's face was very grave on that morning.

"Based on your symptoms of late and the mysterious bumps all around your head, there appear to be a large collection of abnormal growths in your brain…" the doctor began, looking extremely pained in the moment.

"Several growths, you say? Well…that's surprising," Robbie began in an unusually chipper voice. "But you can fix it, right? I'll need some kind of operation to fix me, right?"

"I'm afraid it's well beyond that now, Robert. Any operation done on you at this point would kill you."

"But what am I to do in my current state?"

"There is nothing which can be done. You've have months, maybe a few weeks, at best…"

"This cannot be true…"

"Robbie-"

He cut off Cat's statement, shuffling awkwardly amidst his bed sheets so he could get up.

"There has to be some sort of mistake, doctor," Robbie persisted in a loud voice, which sounded like a foreign language to his ears, "I am very healthy, it's not possible to have…what you're saying I have. I simply cannot accept it."

He tried his hardest to wrench himself free from his bed sheets. But his legs and arms were being stubborn, his brain chaining his body like iron shackles to the bed.

"Robbie, lots of healthy people become afflicted with the strangest illnesses," Cat said in a soothing voice despite her rampant tears. "It's not your fault-"

"I never said it was!" Robbie shouted, becoming very angry all of a sudden, causing Cat to sob even harder.

"I'm terribly sorry," the doctor offered, feeling true anguish for the young couple's pain. "I will bring some medicines with me on my next visit to ease some of your pain, Robert. For now, you should rest and…put your affairs in order."

After that, he took his leave and with that, any vestiges of hope that Robbie had foolishly clung to.

The doctor indeed returned with more medicine, which helped to assuage most of Robbie's painful headaches. Cat was very stern and made sure that Robbie rested as per the doctor's orders. He obliged her for four days and then he finally he couldn't take it anymore.

Cat returned to the house in the afternoon. Rat and Pat had stopped by the farm to assist her with picking the apples and she had excused herself to go check on her husband.

She was just about to heat up some stew for Robbie in the kitchen when she heard a series of loud thuds and crashes coming from the parlour.

She found Robbie in there, and fully dressed too in a long white shirt, dark brown trousers, his black boots laced up and his braces clipped into his trousers and slung tightly over his scrawny shoulders.

His pale hands were shaking and Cat was alarmed to see that they were tinged with fresh cuts and bruises. She finally understood why when Robbie slammed his fists down hard onto the parlour table, the fine china wobbling precariously on the wooden surface.

Robbie suddenly resented Cat's presence in the room. He'd wanted to be alone with his grief for a time when everyone else was busy. Now, he desired nothing more than to quit the room and begin beating his fists against anything else he could lay his hands on.

He wanted to kick and rage at anyone who dared to tell him how he was meant to feel about any of this.

"Robbie…" Cat trailed off, staring in horror at the damage Robbie had done to the table and his hands.

"It's good to know that my brain hasn't turned to rot just yet," Robbie muttered, laughing darkly at his own twisted sense of humour.

"Robbie-"

"It's not fair, Cat!" Robbie screamed at the house, unperturbed whether he brought his in-laws into the house as well from all the noise he was making. "I have a life! I have responsibilities! I have you – and Sam! I cannot leave you alone to fend for yourselves. I have failed you, as a husband and as a father…"

"Robbie-"

"I should have never married you," Robbie continued in a toneless voice, despair sinking into his very bones. "My grandmother forced me to, and I resented her so much for it…at first. And then I met you again in this life and you just…swept me off my feet with your beauty and your kindness. I should have never let myself love you or let you love me. I am such a colossal disappointment of a man-"

Cat raised her hand and slapped Robbie hard across the cheek at this juncture in the conversation. A part of her did it to silence his hysterics, but the stronger part of her did it out of sheer anger and a sense of betrayal that Robbie would dare to minimize the life they had built together for close to 8 years.

"Robert Ephraim Shapiro, never say such hateful words to me ever again," Cat said in a voice made of steel which chilled Robbie to his core. "If your grandmother were still alive, she would be so ashamed, watching you give into such childish tantrums. So your life has been cut short by a divine, powerful being! Lots of men die young! So do many women and children too! Are you going to spend the rest of your days showing ingratitude for what little life you have been given? Or are you going to live your best life with the people who love and cherish you the most? You are still here and you are still alive. Don't waste all your time and energy on anger and resentment. It's beneath you." Cat whispered on the last part.

The soft tenor of her voice was enough to shake Robbie from his destructive mood. He finally surrendered and began crying hard, his shoulders shaking with hollow grief.

Cat wordlessly moved closer and wrapped her arms around Robbie's wiry frame. At first, he stood like a limp statue in her arms, the tightness of her grip crushing his very bones with their surprising strength. Finally, he stopped fighting against his base desire to not be moved and hugged her back just as hard till he worried they would disappear into each other.

And then they both cried together for what felt like centuries.

"Forgive me, my love," Robbie said in shuddering breaths, holding on tightly to Cat's petite frame as they stood together in the parlour.

Cat pulled away slightly, but only so she could lean forward and cup Robbie's cheek in her hand, kissing his lips slowly and sweetly.

For a brief moment, Robbie felt whole and happy, his lips moving forcefully over Cat's as he caressed her back and held her tight.

Cat had always been his sunshine, from the very first day that he'd sat in this parlour and they'd talked of their plans to reacquaint themselves with each other and eventually marry.

Despite his previous words, he could never regret the journey they had taken together.

When they finally pulled apart, Cat's eyes were half-closed and the worst of her tears had finally been tamed.

"There is nothing to forgive, darling," she murmured in lilting breaths from the force of her emotions and Robbie's kisses from before.

Robbie's heart twisted in agony when he realized that she truly meant it.

"I cannot endure this," he whimpered, his salty tears dripping from his long nose.

Cat sobbed yet again, but her embrace never faltered once.

"You can endure this," she reassured him, "because we will endure it together. You are not alone in this; you will never be alone."

Robbie emitted a shuddering breath, trying his best to still the storm brewing deep in his head. But the one in his heart was growing and gathering momentum the longer he gazed into Cat's soft brown eyes.

She was so strong and beautiful and he adored her with everything he had in him.

There was every good chance that the abnormal growths in Robbie's head were going to kill him within days.

But he was still here.

They were both still here and in that moment, Robbie needed any of Cat's strength and vivacity that she was willing to give him.

Cat's breath caught in her throat the longer that Robbie looked down at her. His gaze grew heavier as his eyes dragged lower over her sultry lips. Cat leant closer and closer to him, her halting breaths fanning his cheeks like a cool breeze. Her delicate eyelids were partially open, fluttering like that of a butterfly.

Her hands instinctively moved to his chest as Robbie leant down and captured her lips in a sweet kiss. Soon, his hands had encircled his wife's slim waist as their kisses grew more heated and passionate.

Robbie mustered up what little strength he had in his weary body to lift Cat into his arms, his lips dancing briefly over her collarbone. Cat sucked in a sharp breath, instinctively wrapping her legs around Robbie's hips as he walked them up their stairs and to their bedroom.

Both of them should have been more concerned that either Rat or Pat would come into the house and seek them out at any moment. But neither of them cared too much, their thoughts and bodies wholly consumed with each other.

This might be the last time that they could be together like this before Robbie's body and mind deteriorated.

And they would be damned before they let any precious moments like this escape them.

When Cat finally saw how sluggish all of Robbie's movements were when he finally set her down beside their bed, she took matters into her own hands. She placed her hands on his shoulder in a silent command to make him sit down on their bed. And when he acquiesced, she followed suit, straddling Robbie's lap and caressing his warm cheeks as she kissed him with abandon.

Her hand moved lower and grasped Robbie's hand. He sucked in a sharp breath when she placed his hand on her chest, just inches from where her quivering heart lay.

It was the first time that he could recall in a long time that he'd heard Cat's heart beating with so much rampant love for him.

He leant in close and hugged her tightly, resting his head against her chest so he could listen to the erratic rhythm of her heart.

It was the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard.

For the next few hours, he planned on memorizing that sound and committing it to memory. That was the last thought he had before Cat tilted her head and kissed him again with more fervor.

And then they were shedding their clothing, wrapping their limbs around each other and making fervent love till the sun's rays cooled and morphed into that of the silvery moon.

* * *

**Author Note:**** I know, I suck majorly for the turn this story has taken now :-/ **

**I don't know exactly how advanced medicine was in the USA back in the 1850s, so the doctor's diagnosis in this chapter was guesswork on my part. From this, you can infer that Robbie either has several tumours or an aneurysm in his brain. Either way, it's not looking good for Mr. Shapiro :'-(**

**And now, I must go and play a sad violin for several minutes to collect myself. After that, I will descend the staircase and go comfort a heartbroken Cat with a few hugs and lots of kisses because...I'm a good person and not a romantic opportunist in the least. **

**Then again, Samuel Shapiro is not the only one out there with an unusual middle name. My middle name is 'Mr. Steal Yo Gurl'. **

**Tootles!**


	15. Shalom

**Author Note:**** Greetings, dear fanfic readers! I hope you're all healthy and happy on this Wednesday. Or should I say 'Hump Day'? **

**I wonder where the term 'Hump Day' comes from. It's always sounded oddly perverted to me. Or maybe that's just my warped brain. **

**Fair warning, this will be a sad chapter and a bit of a tear-jerker, so brace yourselves. 'Shalom' is a Hebrew word more commonly used by the older generation to say 'hello' and 'goodbye'. It also means 'peace', which is part and parcel what this chapter is all about. **

**Happy reading!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Victorious_ or the zany characters in this hilarious show. If I did, Sinjin would've brought disco back to life many more times than just in season 1. **

* * *

When it was time to say his final goodbyes, Robbie was ready.

His heart was still heavy, but having the community of Northridge rally around him in his time of need had given him all the fortitude he needed.

After the doctor had checked Robbie's pulse and heart rate, he shifted to the corner of the room in lieu of the other visitors attending to his patient.

Both Minister Eikner and a Rabbi from the neighbouring town were also in attendance to give Robbie his final religious rites.

Robbie had spent what little energy he had in his final weeks writing many a letter to his loved ones. But today, he wanted to see all of them in person to give them their personalized letters and to have a word or two with them before his time finally came.

He lamented the fact that Nana Shapiro wasn't with him now, but he tried not to mind too much. After all, they'd experienced their own tearful and heartfelt farewell the year before when he'd sat at her bedside for many hours before she had taken her last breath.

It had been a beautiful moment between them and he would take it with him, wherever he was going to next.

In uncharacteristic fashion, he began with his brother-in-law, who stood stiffly at his bedside. They hadn't been particularly close, but had shared a unique camaraderie and respect for each other which surpassed simple words.

"I'm sorry that we won't have more time together to become true brothers, Rat," Robbie began awkwardly, hardly daring to believe the earnestness of his own words. "I'll admit, I often thought you were very odd and that there were many things I would've done differently had I been in your shoes. With that said, I have never met a man with such a big heart for not only his parents and sister, but also for his nephew. Promise me you'll look out for Cat and Tug from here on out," he whispered, struggling not to cry again.

The firmness of Rat's hand on his helped him to stifle that burning emotion. Rat wasn't smiling, but the look in his eyes told Robbie that he'd taken in everything he'd said to him, and he was gratified.

"You didn't need to bother yourself with such trifles, Robert," Rat declared in an ominous tone. "I too thought you were extremely odd and had a stick up your butt. But you are a good man and anyone with eyes can see how well you loved and cared for my sister, as well as your offspring. Tug is a good lad, just like his father. I will be always there to keep an eye on him." Rat reassured his brother.

Next came Pat and Mat, who sat beside Robbie with tears shining in their eyes.

"Pat and Mat, I'm awfully sorry that I was so terrible at the Valentine apple business…" Robbie began awkwardly.

"Nonsense, Robert! You learnt so much of the business in 8 years! More than that, you never stopped asking for guidance on how to yield more bountiful harvests. That is the heart of a true farmer," Pat declared with deep sincerity, clasping his son-in-law affectionately on the shoulder as he spoke.

"You are a good boy, Robbie. Pat and I never had any regrets about choosing you to marry our Caterina. Thank you for doing your best to always make her and Tug happy." Mat added, a radiant smile playing on her cheeks.

Robbie finally saw who exactly Cat had inherited her lovely smile from.

"They are my life. Please forgive me for leaving them now…" Robbie sobbed out, feeling utterly wretched about everything.

While Pat cleared his throat awkwardly and looked away at this show of emotions from another man, Mat met Robbie's gaze head-on and she held his hand tightly.

"No more of that foolishness, son. God works in mysterious ways that we will sometimes never be able to understand, at least not in this life. And Cat and Tug will never be destitute, you can rest assured of that. The Valentines always look after each other, and you, my dear boy, are a Valentine forevermore."

Robbie squeezed Mat's hand one final time before they hugged each other tightly.

Tori approached Robbie next. Her bottom lip wobbled precariously and her eyes swam with unshed tears, but her gaze was bright and reassuring as she sat closely beside Robbie and held her hands in his.

"I always knew that Cat was sweet on you, ever since we were in school together all those years ago." She confided in him with a devilish smile on her face.

"She was?" Robbie questioned in awe.

"Of course she was! You know by now how strong-willed Cat truly is – do you honestly think she would've agreed to her parents' plan to marry her off to you if she wasn't amendable to the idea?" Tori asked, raising a questioning eyebrow in the process.

Robbie thought about it about for a moment as he recalled the day he and Cat had first sat together in the parlour downstairs nearly 8 years ago.

She hadn't seemed very nervous about their engagement. If anything, she had been far more resolved and even happy about the circumstances.

If only he'd felt the same way about her sooner, long before they'd met again in their teenaged years. He knew now that he wouldn't have wasted a single second of being in her presence.

Still, when he glanced over Tori's shoulder at his wife who was hanging a new family portrait on the wall, Robbie realized then that there was nothing he would change about him or Cat and how they'd fallen in love.

They were who they were after all, and he'd cherished every second of their time together.

"Thank you for your friendship to me, Victoria. You truly are a credit to your gender," Robbie praised, bringing her hand close to his mouth to kiss it gently.

Tori blushed ever so slightly, but remained composed when she kissed Robbie on the forehead in turn.

"In case you are terribly devastated by my absence in your life after this, I do know that Mr. Harris is a handsome gentleman who would do everything in his power to make you smile and laugh again with many a romantic ballad which he would delight in serenading you with," Robbie concluded with a smirk on his face.

He chuckled hoarsely when Tori rolled her eyes and slapped his shoulder with her most expensive handkerchief. "Oh hush now, you!" she scolded playfully, her striking cheekbones on display as she smiled brightly at him.

Andre abandoned all pretense of social etiquette and launched himself into his best friend's arms, crying hard against his skinny shoulder.

"Hush now, Andre – all is well," Robbie murmured, rubbing Andre's back soothingly, albeit awkwardly.

"I'm going to miss you so much," Andre blubbered through his tears. "Who else will haunt Sikowitz's tavern with me and drink so many pints of ale till we empty our stomachs in the fields outside?"

"There are plenty of Northridge men who can fill my shoes in that respect, Andre," Robbie remarked with a small smile on his wan face.

"Perhaps. But you will remain unmatched in all other respects, my brother," Andre declared in earnest, which made Robbie want to weep aloud again.

"I will miss you too, brother," Robbie said, clasping his friend's hand tightly in his. "Now stop being a fool and go marry Victoria Vega at once." He urged with a teasing smile.

"I would do it in a heartbeat, but her older sister Katrina –"

"May very well turn out to be an excellent ally to have in your corner," Robbie interjected. "Rat, despite his many eccentricities, has been an exemplary brother to both myself and Cat all these years. Don't be a fool like me and wait as long as I did to find and love Caterina."

"I promise I won't," Andre said to his friend with a smile on his face. "I always knew you would be happier wedding her than sitting in the marketplace with Rex," he added with amusement etched into his tone.

"And you were quite right in that respect," Robbie agreed wholeheartedly.

Beck came soon after this, but only to offer a few polite murmurs of condolences and to shake Robbie's hand very briefly before he stepped away.

Robbie didn't mind; after all, he hadn't wasted too many years being angry with Beck for once kissing his wife against her will during a garden party.

There were far more important things to consider now.

Jade approached Robbie next, the same look of disdain which she always wore for him, plastered to her pale face. Robbie gulped nervously as the raven-haired beauty loomed above him, hardly knowing what to expect from her, in both life and death.

"And now I have more reason to despise you," she began by way of greeting.

"Because I was never good enough for Caterina?"

"Because you were always good enough for Caterina. And now you are breaking her heart by abandoning her…" Jade snapped mercilessly.

And yet, Robbie knew better than to believe the animosity behind Jade's words. Especially when salty tears sprang from her crystal blue eyes and fell down her cheeks as she spoke.

"My dear Jade," Robbie murmured, not knowing where this sudden affection for his wife's closest friend had even sprung from. "I am not abandoning my wife. I am leaving her and my son in the very best care – yours."

Jade's shoulders shook with repressed grief at Robbie's words. She reached for his hand and gripped it so tightly, he worried she would actually break his fingers. She leant closer to is face, her cool breath ghosting over his wan cheeks.

"Just know that we will see each other again in the next life – if only for me to torture you some more," she whispered in his ear.

"I look forward to it," Robbie said with the utmost sincerity, shooting the terrifying woman a devilish grin.

To his delight, Jade grinned back at him.

And this time, it wasn't a grin designed to make Robbie's bones quiver and melt. It was a smile shared between comrades and dare he even think it, friends.

Robbie supposed that his looming death was as good as a time as any for Jadelyn West to finally thaw to him.

Towards the end, Mat brought Sam up to see his father.

Unlike the previous visitors, Sam clamoured onto his parents' bed and launched himself into his father's arms. Robbie hugged his son tightly and kissed his cheeks several times, if only just to savour this feeling for as long as possible.

"How are you feeling, Papa?" Sam asked timidly of his father.

"Oh, I've certainly had better days than this," Robbie said with a tired smile. "Still, I cannot complain. It is a fine day and all of the town has come to pay me a visit. What more could anyone ask for?"

"I made you this in school earlier," Sam mumbled self-consciously.

He shoved a blob of reddish-brown clay into Robbie's hands. It took a moment for Robbie to recognize the figure which his son had shaped. But the rotund belly with the distorted physical features was enough to make him roar with laughter at his son's ingenuity.

"It's the blobby banker, just like in the story you and Mama told me," Sam explained, smiling happily at his father's obvious delight with his creation.

"By Jove, it really is. You captured his essence very well, Tug," Robbie praised his son.

"Thanks, Papa. Maybe next time, you can teach me to whittle so I can make a puppet just like Rex," Sam offered, beaming widely at his father.

Robbie's heart ached mercilessly at his son's words. Cat, who was standing close by, cupped her mouth with her hand as she began crying once more.

"Samuel, Papa is very sick," Robbie began in a grave tone.

"I know," Sam said in a miserable voice. "But you will get better soon, right?" he asked, hope dancing in his eyes.

Those shining orbs were a soft shade of brown, just like Cat's.

Samuel was the living embodiment of his and Cat's love for each other; he would always be a constant reminder that good things can always happen, even when you hadn't dreamt of them before.

"I'm afraid not, Tug. I won't be around for very long, and that might make you feel strange and sad. If you ever feel that way, I want you to know that it's ok to cry."

"But, Papa, boys aren't meant to cry." Sam reminded his father with a solemn air.

"Nonsense! Of course boys can cry," Robbie declared in a gruff tone. "I cry very often, and usually because of an unkind word from Rex. Whoever tells you it's wrong to cry is a fool; how else can you let the bad feelings out of your chest and feel happy again if you don't cry? So whenever you feel like it, I give you full permission to cry your eyes out."

"Ok, Papa," Sam agreed, smiling widely at his father.

"But after you're done crying, will you promise me just one thing?"

"Anything, Papa."

"Promise me you'll dry your eyes and put on a brave face for your Mama. She's going to feel awfully sad too, and she'll need you to dry her eyes."

"But, Papa, Mama doesn't cry that often. She always smiles and laughs – does she even have any tears left in her body?" Sam asked innocently, which made Robbie chuckle in turn.

"Oh, Sammy, everyone always has some spare tears left over for a good cry when they need it. Just promise me you'll do whatever you can to keep your Mama smiling, alright? You're the man of the house now – Valentine Farm can't run without you." Robbie said, his breathing becoming hoarser as he struggled to hold back tears.

Sam began crying too and it wasn't long before the boy was sobbing loudly against Robbie's chest while his father cradled his head and hugged him tightly.

"Papa, don't go," Sam begged over and over again, his tears clogging his throat and making it hard for him to inhale and exhale without effort.

"Aww, Tug, only my body's going on a little journey now," Robbie murmured, kissing the top of his son's head affectionately. "But the rest of me will stay right here with you," he promised.

"Ok, Papa."

"I know I'm being a nuisance now, but I need one more promise from you, little man. Promise your dear dad that you'll keep practicing your Hebrew and reading your prayers every night."

"Aww, do I have to, Papa? It's so hard to say and read the words," Sam complained in an adorable way.

"I know it is. But it'll get easier the more times you say it," Robbie said with an encouraging smile. "I'll prove it to you right now – let's practice together."

Cat smiled and cried silently as she listened to father and son chant a common prayer from the Torah. While Robbie's Hebrew was seamless, Sam still struggled with his pronunciation. And yet, by the end of it, Robbie was weeping with tears of happiness.

"I know, I'm terrible," Sam muttered, mistaking the reasons for his father's tears altogether.

"Not at all, Tug. You were masterful, just like a real Rabbi. It was like music to my ears!" Robbie praised, making Cat chuckle in amusement at her husband's facetiousness.

"Papa…" Sam whined, knowing full well his father was buttering him up while Robbie ruffled his hair affectionately.

"You'll get better at whatever you want to do in life, as long as you keep practicing, son." Robbie promised more seriously.

"I promise I'll keep practicing, Papa. I'll say my prayers so loud that both you and Great-Nana Shapiro can hear me." Sam announced with sudden pride.

"Oh, that will be a treat for the old battle-axe," Robbie agreed playfully in reference to his dearly departed grandmother.

He held out his hand for Cat to come closer while Sam remained cradled against his chest. Cat moved to the other side and climbed onto the bed and laid on her side next to her husband. Robbie reached forward and thumbed away the tears that had slid from her mesmerizing eyes.

"I love you so much, my red-haired cat," Robbie declared, his voice sounding hoarse and choked up in the moment.

"I know, darling. And Tori was right before; I did love you for a lot longer than I let on," Cat answered, smirking devilishly at her husband.

"You could've told me sooner; I might've acted less foolishly and loved you a lot sooner," Robbie reminded his wife.

"Aww, but what fun would that have been? All I had to do was tell myself many an interesting tale about the man of my dreams until you finally came and swept me off my feet," Cat whispered, cupping her husband's cheek in her small hand.

"Cat," Robbie said with the utmost love in his voice. "I adore you. Even when I'm no longer here, my love will stay with you for always. Whenever you feel sad or lonely, you can always find me in your dreams."

Cat's smile slipped and she cried bitterly as she rested her head on top of Sam's, sniffing the sweet scent of her son's hair that had been freshly washed that morning.

"I will see you soon in my dreams then," she promised her husband, leaning forward and pressing her lips against his, which were beginning to get cold now. "I adore you too, Robbie Shapiro."

Robbie remained smiling right till the very end. His dark brown eyes had never held so much love and pride in them than he gazed at his wife and his son, who began crying even more. His heart ached to take away their pain, but he knew he couldn't continue at their sides anymore.

He had to go back now.

He only hoped that Cat and Sam wouldn't join him for many more decades on the other side. They both still had so much more life left in them to give to the world.

"Samuel, Cat," Robbie murmured, his breath becoming harsher and harsher as the seconds rose before him.

"Loving you both has been…my most favourite dream yet."

His last breath rattled sharply out of his lungs, dispelling what remained of his ghastly sickness. Then his dark brown eyes finally stilled and then slid into place, seeing nothing else before him. All that was left now was that eternal smile left on his wan face, assuring him that his dreams would be sweeter in the next life.

* * *

**Author Note:**** Damn, that was hard to write. **

**Don't get me wrong, that wasn't the most dramatic death scene I've ever had to write. I've written way worse where the character who's dying closes their eyes and you think they're dead, but then they open their eyes again and keep talking just to draw out the readers' anguish. **

**Yeah, I'm mean like that. **

**I hope I managed to capture the _Victorious_ characters' voices well in this tiny excerpt, even with their high-brow English. I was really pushing the Tori-Andre romance the entire story, huh? What can I say? I thought there was something there between them for years in the TV show. **

**It sucks that Cat and Robbie's life together got cut short. But they experienced more in 8 years as a couple than most people do in a lifetime, so I suppose that's a gift in itself. **

**I want an epic love story like that when I grow up...**

**Anyhoo...there are 4 more chapters after this to wrap up the story. And then, you will finally discover whether Robbie was dreaming or dropped into an alternate reality. **

**The possibilities are endless. Or just down to the options I already listed above. So...the possibilities are...two-fold?**

**Tootles!**


	16. Discernment

**Author Note:**** Hey there, Sports Fans! What's crackalacking in the hee-zay? **

**Yeah, I don't know what I was trying to say there. **

**I thought I was 'diggy down' with the kids. **

**But that was a lie. **

**I'm not 'down with the clique' in Aaliyah terms. That was cool af jam from the 90s. **

**Anyway, back to the story!**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own _Victorious_ or the zany characters from this hilarious show. If I did, lli **

* * *

Robbie lurched up from his bed, his breath escaping his lungs with a sharp, rattling gurgle.

He felt like his sleep had been so deep, he must've been dead before this.

He gazed in awe at his pale hands, his eyes trailing over his arms to his red, white and blue _Galaxy War_s onesie that he'd worn to bed the night before.

_Galaxy Wars!_

That meant…he wasn't in Northridge in the 1850s anymore. He was no longer working in and running the apple orchards of Valentine Farm and married to Cat.

It was 2013 and he was waking up in his own bed in his family home in the Hollywood Hills!

It had all been a dream.

Robbie could barely get his heart to stop thudding in his chest as he thought on the dream.

It had been so real, and far more vivid than his usual reality.

With shaking hands, he got out of bed and ran to his desk. He opened up his journal, containing all of his deepest thoughts which Rex often ridiculed him for. He took the nearest pen and began recounting every detail of the dream he could think of while it was still fresh in his mind.

It took a good 20 minutes of thinking and editing the things he remembered. But Robbie managed to get as many details down as possible before they slipped like grains of sand through the sieve of his own cluttered mind.

In the process of baring his soul to his journal, Robbie's thoughts inadvertently went to and remained on one red-haired girl that had captured his heart in reality and in his dreams.

Only this time, he was determined that she wouldn't get away without a fight.

"Rex, wake up! We have to get ready for school!" Robbie barked out on a sudden impulse.

"Slow your roll, Rob – it's only 5am!" Rex's muffled voice came from inside his drawer. "Your brain has turned to homemade chili if you think I'm going anywhere right now."

"Come on, buddy," Robbie urged in a winning voice. "I'll make it worth your while: I'll get you a breakfast burrito from 'BF Wangs' on our way to school…"

The drawer opened of its own accord and Rex poked his disheveled out.

"With the secret sauce too?" he asked in a would-be-casual voice.

"With as many packs of secret sauce that you can fit onto that burrito," Robbie promised.

* * *

After a quick shower, Robbie put on his clothes in a flurry, not giving much thought for his general appearance. Then he shoved a slice of toast into his mouth as he grabbed Rex and his backpack and ran out of his house.

It still took ages for him to pedal all the way to 'BF Wangs' in his 'eco-friendly car'. But he managed to get Rex his breakfast burrito with nearly 20 packs of secret sauce that the insolent puppet requested and a small orange juice for him to give himself a pick-me-up for the long journey ahead.

Robbie finally made it to school 30 minutes before first period was about to start. He only hoped that Cat was already at school too.

You could never tell on any given day whether Cat would be early or late for school.

Her one and only consistency was that she never seemed to arrive on time.

Robbie sprinted to his locker to grab his textbooks for his first class and take a cursory look in the mirror he'd taped on the back of his locker door to check his overall appearance.

"Dude, are you trying to make me asphyxiate?" Rex complained when Robbie grabbed a can of deodorant and shoved it inside his black and red golf shirt.

"What? I can't smell disgusting while talking to Cat! And this deodorant is very manly!" Robbie defended, wincing at the cold sensation of the deodorant on his warm armpits.

"As manly as a scent called 'Drifting into Dandelions' can get…"

"Hey, there's a picture of a very attractive man on the front!" Robbie fumed, pointing to the male model in question.

"Dandelion Dude's got a man bun!"

"I can't deal with this right now, Rex! Oh chizz, Cat's here!" Robbie exclaimed, his heart in his throat.

Sure enough, Cat had rounded the corner of the graffitied hallway and was walking towards the lockers with Tori, Andre, Beck and Jade in tow.

She was dressed in her signature royal blue dress that just covered her thighs and wearing a pair of glittering, white and pink high-tops.

As always, Cat was giggling at some comment that Tori had made, and she looked pretty damn fantastic doing it too in Robbie's eyes.

"This is gonna be better than yesterday. This is gonna be better than yesterday…" Robbie chanted repeatedly, stowing the deodorant in his locker and shutting it with a loud slam.

"What's gonna be better than yesterday? You're not seriously gonna ask Cat out again, are you?" Rex demanded incredulously.

"Not ask her out. But I might tell her I love her again, you know…if it comes up organically," Robbie explained in a would-be-casual tone.

"I should've skipped class today…" Rex mumbled to the hallway at large, shaking his head as Robbie stalked towards his group of friends.

"…and that's why my brother Rat can't tell time anymore." Cat was saying to Tori in a breathy murmur.

"All because he bungee jumped off of Big Ben without a rope 5 years ago?" Tori questioned, wrinkling her nose in confusion.

"No, he had a rope, but the instructor forgot to attach it to the harness…"

"Didn't your brother jump before the instructor guy could attach the harness?" Jade piped up with intrigue.

"Yeah, he did," Cat answered, ducking her head down self-consciously. "That poor man lost his job and ended up making the 'Tap It' app instead."

"Isn't that good though? It's an app and apps make a lot of money." Beck supplied, infusing his usual nonchalant positivity into the conversation.

"Usually they do. But 'Tap It' is a coupon app and the guy who made it earns all of his money back in coupons only…" Cap replied in a sad voice.

"Oh chizz, that's rough on a poor man's soul…" Andre trailed off bleakly.

"Hey, guys!" Robbie greeted his friends with a wave.

"Hey, Robbie," Tori, Andre and Beck greeted back nonchalantly.

"Your hair has extra volume today." Jade noted.

"Oh? Does that mean you like it?"

"Of course not, get a chizzing haircut!" Jade shrieked like a banshee.

Robbie noticed that Cat had failed to greet him back. She stood twirling a thick strand of her red hair around her finger, biting her bottom lip nervously and not making eye contact with him.

Maybe she was more affected by their conversation yesterday than she'd previously let on.

This caused Robbie to smile, giving him renewed courage.

"Hey, Cat. You look great today," he declared, hoping his voice sounded light and natural.

"Thanks, Robbie. You look nice too, even with your extra-voluminous hair." Cat offered, finally giving Robbie a small smile.

"I know we have class soon, but can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Um, I don't know, Robbie…Tori said she needs help choosing an improv topic for Sikowitz's class," Cat said hesitantly.

"That's ok, I can choose a topic on my own if you wanna talk to Robbie," Tori offered in a gracious voice.

"No, I don't! I don't wanna talk to Robbie, at least not right now!" Cat protested out nowhere, which stunned everyone.

None of her friends had ever seen her so clearly upset or reluctant to talk to anyone, least of all with Robbie and his many attempts to woo her.

"What's goin on with you, Lil' Red?" Andre asked in concern.

"Nothing! I just wanna go to class now instead of later! Sikowitz has probably turned on the airconditioning by now and I don't want the jellybeans in my bra to melt!"

"Girl, you need to invest in a candy purse or something more hygienic…" Rex offered in a sardonic tone.

"Cat, please. It's important," Robbie said, his eyes crinkling subtly with sadness.

He didn't want to make Cat feel any more uncomfortable around him than she already did. But he knew that he needed to say these things to her before he lost his nerve.

"Robbie, I really don't think you should do this now…" Beck attempted, already guessing at what his friend was about to do.

"Save it for Sesame Street, Aladdin!" Robbie retorted, cutting his friend short.

"Dang…" Andre murmured in awe.

Beck's eyes widened ever so slightly at Robbie's unexpected ferocity and it took the skinny boy of Jewish descent a moment to calm his ragged breathing.

He couldn't explain why he was so aggravated with the handsome teenage boy all of a sudden.

Perhaps some residual feelings of jealousy from his dream?

"Robbie, please don't do this…" Cat begged, looking very miserable as she spoke.

"Don't do what? What's going on?" Tori demanded, first glancing in concern at her kooky friend before glancing suspiciously back at Robbie.

"Oh please do this, Robbie, whatever the chizz _this_ is. I ran out of data on my pearphone and you're going to entertain me for the next few minutes." Jade said with a wicked smile on her face.

Robbie held up an appeasing finger and moved closer to Cat while Jade hit the 'record' button on her phone. "Please hear me out, Cat. I only need to say this once to you, and you only need to hear it once. After that, you can do whatever you like and I'll try my best to move on from you romantically and stay good friends with you."

The fact that Cat was standing still and hadn't 'done a bunk' in Harry Potter terms was the most positive sign Robbie could conjure up in the moment. He took a deep breath and began what was sure to be a very long and complicated story.

"First, I want to apologise to you for the way I acted yesterday. Yes, I asked you out again and you said no again, which was your right to do. It hurt my feelings, but I didn't behave very maturely about it, and I'm sorry. I ended up having a pretty ganky day yesterday, but then I had a dream last night. It was the most confusing and wonderful dream I've ever had! I woke up in a bed in a farmhouse in Northridge…"

"Northridge? And you said this dream was wonderful?" Andre demanded in astonishment.

"It was like I went back in time, when Northridge was still a farming community and not the ganky neighbourhood it is now. And in this dream, you and I got married, Cat."

"You got what now?" Tori demanded, glancing rapidly between Cat and Robbie in horror.

"Anyone marrying Robbie sounds more like a nightmare instead of a dream," Jade put in, trying to be helpful at the wrong time.

"It was an arranged marriage, but we found a way to make it work. Cat…we fell in love, deeply in love. You even loved my guitar playing, so much so that you actually had sex with me!" Robbie proclaimed happily.

"Ew!" Tori shrieked in horror.

"Dude!" Andre protested.

"Urgh, I just threw up in my mouth," Jade said in a tone of revulsion.

"What? No, no, no, no!" Cat squealed, covering her ears at the mention of things that men and women did under the covers with the lights off.

"Robbie, why would you talk about 'S-E-X' in front of Cat?" Tori fumed, punching Robbie in the shoulder.

"Exactly! You don't even know how to zip up your own pants, much less please a girl in the bedroom!" Beck protested for no apparent reason.

"I'm sorry, that came out wrong!" Robbie apologized in earnest, rubbing the smarting bruise forming on his arm from Tori's punch. "It was actually more 'making love' than sex-"

"Oh my God, Robbie!"

"Boy, Cat is going to have you arrested for sexual ha-rass-ment! You will not like Northridge Prison – it's full of guys with scarred faces and thigh tattoos!" Rex chorused.

"I am very unhappy with this conversation…" Andre moaned, his face screwed up comically with real anguish.

"Robbie, you can't keep talking about gross stuff like this," Cat lamented, her cheeks turning several different shades of red. "I fainted the last time that someone told me babies come out of a woman's special place…" she added, shaking her head profusely as if to rid the images from her head.

"It's called your hoohah, Cat," Jade supplied, enjoying the unexpected turn in the conversation.

"Not helping, Jade," Tori snarled in an overprotective manner.

"Super unhelpful," Andre agreed. "In any case, I'm pretty sure 'hoohah' is a type of Spanish sausage…"

"And I'm pretty sure you just made that up," Beck supplied drolly.

Robbie's head started ringing with all the various interruptions from his friend. He needed to find a way to hone his narrative and focus it back on Cat somehow.

"Ok, let's skip that part. The point is, we were married and in love, we even had a cute son! And his nickname was 'Tug', which now I think about…is the name of the guy you brought to Prome." Robbie trailed off in dismay once he made the connection.

"Tell me, Rob: what does toe jam taste like now that you have a whole foot in your mouth?" Rex asked with his usual snarkiness.

"I forgot why we're all still standing here…" Beck said to the ceiling.

"So that we can witness Robbie emotionally face-plant in front of Cat for the umpteenth time and Rex can talk about toe-jam some more. Keep up, Beck," Jade explained in a patronizing tone, angling her pearphone so she could film a better angle of Robbie's face.

Robbie could tell that Cat was seconds away from losing the thread of his story, so he ploughed on with a little more lucidity than before.

"And then after I experienced what felt like my happiest existence in any life, the worst possible thing happened…" Robbie continued, his face turning somber as he spoke.

"Did you feed me to hungry dream children again?" Cat asked in dismay.

Robbie couldn't resist chuckling just a little at the arbitrary conclusion Cat had drawn about his story.

Her imagination truly was a wonder.

"No, it was worse! I got a brain tumour and didn't recover."

"Oh yeah, that's the stuff of good dreams right there…" Jade murmured in ecstasy.

"I'm concerned about your mental health," Tori quipped in Jade's direction.

"I am insane and I love it - deal with it, Vega!"

"It was really bad, Cat. I died…" Rob continued, feeling sincerely distressed about his own death, even if it had just been a dream.

"Robbie, no…" Cat trailed off, sounding genuinely saddened at the thought of Robbie not existing in any sense.

"It sucks that you died. But it was just a dream, bro." Beck tried in a soothing voice.

"Can it, Big Time Rush! You barely shook my hand like a gentleman when my end drew near!" Robbie fumed, rounding on a bewildered Beck.

"Why is Robbie picking on me today?" Beck asked quietly of Andre, who shrugged in turn.

"That wasn't the worst part though," Robbie went on, ignoring Beck again and turning his attention back to the red-haired beauty standing before him.

"Wait…it wasn't? Because that was the best part of this dumb story so far," Jade pointed out.

Everyone gasped in shock when Robbie reached out and took Cat's hands. Even more surprising than that was when Cat didn't retract, but let their fingers intertwine naturally as time went on, her eyes locked on Robbie.

"The worst part was knowing that I wouldn't see Tug grow up or being able to keep loving you. In my dreams and in my reality, you're the only girl I could ever love with my whole heart."

"Robbie-"

"I know what you're going to say, that I don't know you. You were kinda right before; going to school, sharing classes and sitting at lunch together every day doesn't count as truly knowing someone. But you were also weirdly wrong too. Because I do know you! I just didn't know that I knew you like you wanted me to. So if you let me, I'd like to tell you what I've discovered about you, Cat Valentine."

"And here comes the train wreck…" Jade marveled, looking genuinely excited while holding her camera in front of Cat and Robbie's faces.

"You're breathtaking and you wear cute clothing to accentuate your natural beauty. But you do this because you're terrified that if people don't like how you look on the outside, they won't like who you are on the inside."

"Hey…I do that too!" Tori declared with sudden realization in reference to her clothing.

"No one cares about your stupid epiphanies, Vega!" Jade barked.

"You get lost in your own imagination and people think you're weird for it. But you like telling yourself stories because they comfort you in a world made up of cynical people who only care about having money and being popular. The stories you tell yourself aren't about superficial things. They're about love and happiness and expressing wonder at inexplicable, miraculous things. They're born from a mind that is not only creative, but brilliant."

Despite her misgivings at humouring Robbie in any sense, Cat couldn't help blushing at the compliments he'd just given her.

When he wasn't being desperate and creepy (especially with making life-size cardboard cutouts of her), he was actually really sweet.

"You love with your whole heart and you forgive people even when they show you their darkest sides. You understand that life isn't always about rainbows at the end of a bad storm. That's why you're the rainbow in the lives of the people you love, when they can't summon any happiness on their own. You're there to show them that all they need is a little love, imagination and acceptance to be happy."

"Dang, that's deep. I wonder if I can write a song about that…?" Andre mumbled pensively to himself.

Then Robbie went for broke and tipped Cat's chin upwards so that they were now eyeball to eyeball in the bustling hallway.

"At the end of the day, you're just…your sweet and unique self, quirks and all. And I love you for it, Cat Valentine. Even if you never feel the same way as I do, there's nothing I would change about you in reality or in a dream."

Cat emitted a quivering breath at all the wonderful things that Robbie had just said to her. Her hands suddenly felt too big and sweaty for her petite body as she thought about all the things she wanted to say and do in the moment.

At the end of it, there was only sentence that seemed to encompass everything she was feeling.

"Robbie, I was wrong…you do know me."

Cat stood on her tiptoes, placed her hands on Robbie's cheeks and then kissed him hard.

"What in the name of gravy?!" Andre hollered when Robbie planted his hands firmly on her hips and kissed her back with just as much fervour.

If he'd thought that kissing Cat multiple times in his dream last night was great, then this moment in his usually bleak reality was beyond incredible. Her lips were every bit as soft as he imagined they would be; they tasted sweet like the red licorice she liked hiding in her bra to snack on at school.

This kiss was everything to him and more.

And most importantly, it was real.

Cat pulled away briefly to catch her breath. Somehow, her arms had wound themselves around Robbie's lanky neck while kissing him. He was still stooping over her, his breath coming out in ragged pants, his long curly hair falling over his eyes in a brooding, sensual curtain.

His cheeks were so red from her kisses. That shade of red reminded Cat of her own hair and red velvet cupcakes.

Robbie's words and lips were sweet like red velvet cupcakes too.

She giggled nervously when Robbie's dark brown eyes melded with her own soft, brown eyes yet again till she was robbed of speech and breath. And then she closed her eyes and pressed their lips together once more.

"Is this really happening?" Beck asked of the hallway at large when Robbie lifted Cat off her feet ever so slightly to hold her more tightly while they kissed passionately.

"Five bucks says that these are actually Robbie and Cat's doppelgangers kissing right now…" Sinjin piped up unexpectedly from behind the group as Cat's dainty hands tangled themselves in Robbie's hair as she kissed him on repeat.

"Normally, your jank stories are weirder than my grandma's crazy brain, Sinjin. But this time around, you might actually be onto something…" Andre concurred, grimacing in bewilderment at the scene in front of him.

"This is so much weirder than that time Trina made me shave her in the car…" Tori trailed off in awe, her eyes glued to the scene in front of her like it was a major car accident.

"I'm already bored, let's bail," Jade mumbled, looking genuinely miffed by the outcome of the morning.

Finally, Robbie put Cat back on her feet and they disentangled themselves reluctantly from each other. They both felt a little awkward and self-conscious now that they weren't kissing and Robbie wasn't declaring his love for Cat.

So Robbie took to holding Cat's hand lightly in his while gazing deep into her eyes.

Cat had kissed a lot of boys before this. But she had never enjoyed kissing a boy as much as she'd done with Robbie just now.

And no other boy before him had been so incredibly cute and sweet with making big rainbow-coloured butterflies skip and tap-dance in her stomach.

And that gave Cat an idea…

"Wanna skip first period class and go catch some butterflies?" Cat asked, shooting Robbie a bright smile.

"Actually…it's a really nice day out. Do you wanna maybe find a warm spot in the sun and make weird shapes out of clouds?" Robbie suggested.

"Oh, yay! That sounds way better than catching butterflies that look like the inside of my stomach!" Cat agreed readily.

"Tori, can you watch Rex for me - thanks!" Robbie called out, handing the puppet over to a stunned Tori.

Then he laughed happily as Cat giggled and grabbed his arm and dragged him outside while Tori and the rest of their friends watched in a mesh of amusement and undeniable shock.

"Was all of that just some trippy dream after a Northridge Prom?" Rex asked.

He still couldn't believe that Robbie had forgotten all about him.

Still, Tori's chest made for a nice, sexy pillow…

"Nope, that really happened. And it's going straight on _The Slap_…once I call my service provider and recharge my data." Jade answered, scurrying off to make a phone call.

Beck shook his head and smiled as he followed his girlfriend. "I guess it was finally a day for a sad kid to get his wings and fly…" he murmured to himself.

"Yes, but when will it finally be my turn?" Sinjin asked Beck, his eyes lingering with longing on Tori, who was scowling and swatting Rex's wandering hand away from her butt.

"Come on, guys. You can help me brainstorm song lyrics for Cat and Robbie's eternal love," Andre said to Tori and Rex as they walked together to Sikowitz's class.

"Can it have 'Tori is still super confused by what went down this morning' in it?"

"Can it have 'Rex definitely knows how to please a girl in the bedroom' in it?"

"Absolutely, Tor, and stop talking crazy, puppet!"

"That chizz is offensive!"

* * *

**Author's Note:**** As Notorious B.I.G would say - "It was aaaaaaallllllll a dreeeeeeaaaaammm!" **

**Yes, Robbie was dreaming the entire time. Props to the reviewers who guessed right from the start. You've earned yourself a coupon for 'all you can eat wings' from BF Wangs ;-D **

**I really enjoyed doing the dialogue and jokes for the _Victorious _characters in this chapter - did I nail it?**

**And there was another Cat and Robbie kiss, but for realsies this time :-DDD**

**Life is good when you're Jewish, tres awkward and have a rude puppet for an alter ego. **

**Still three more chapters left to wrap everything up. **

**Leave me reviews - they're the only love I have left in my heart ever since Ariana Grande sent me that restraining order in the mail. Something about 'no more dancing in front of my home wearing a cut out of my face over your face to protect yourself from illness'...**

**Tootles! **


	17. Attainment

**Author Note:**** Goeie dag, mense! That's Afrikaans for 'good day, people!', which is my second language aside from English. Isn't Afrikaans positively romantical? **

**I hope you all liked the previous chapter when Robbie finally has a semi-normal conversation with Cat at school, which led to lots of smoochy-smoochering and what-not :-P **

**I really appreciate all of the reviews and feedback you guys have given me for this story so far, you rock :-D**

**What will happen now with Cat and Robbie's story? Will love follow them in their reality? Or will more tragedy befall them? **

**Read on, por favor. If you want to. I'm not the fanfic police or something weird. Do you. Treat yoself. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Victorious_ or the zany characters in this hilarious show. If I did, Robbie would've kept taking his shirt off in random situations. Because that sh*t was hilarious and intriguing - Matt Bennett has the potential for developing major abs :-P **

* * *

Despite kissing him at school where anyone with eyeballs could see, Robbie still needed to convince Cat a little more about going out with him as the weeks ensued.

So they took it slow and Robbie purposely left Rex with Tori of all people while he took Cat out on dates to her all her favourite places in Los Angeles.

One of their first and memorable dates took place in an unusual location. After that vivid dream he'd had, Robbie desperately wanted to visit Northridge and try to track down the old farm that Great Pappy Shapiro had purchased more than a hundred years ago.

Cat got Rat to lend them his car for the afternoon and Robbie drove them to Northridge without experiencing any mechanical issues, including anything to do with the faulty drop top.

However, Robbie stared aghast at the old farm which was now derelict, graffitied and crawling with an assortment of rats the size of raccoons and creepy men in clown costumes who asked the two teenagers for a ride to Venice Beach. It hadn't taken much for both Cat and Robbie to scream bloody murder before sprinting back to Rat's car and gunning it till they were safely out of Northridge.

Robbie made it up to Cat by taking her to a pet store later that day to play with some of the puppies who hadn't been adopted yet, making a mental not to take Cat on another date in Northridge.

Even after that disturbing experience in Northridge, Cat had no more hesitation about holding Robbie's hand in public, feeding him scoops of ice cream with pink sprinkles outside the _Asphalt Café_ and calling him her 'boyfriend'.

It took a while for all of their friends to get used to the idea of the two of them dating, especially in a situation where neither money nor candy had changed hands. But Tori and Beck were the most instrumental with getting everyone around them to see and acknowledge that Robbie and Cat did complement each other in a way that no one had bothered to give serious consideration to. For one, Robbie helped Cat to focus better on her studies and not to spend her money too frivolously at the _Sky Store_ or on _Tap It_. For another, Cat helped Robbie to be less clumsy with breaking expensive dinnerware at restaurants or killing the beloved pets of scary dictators with two eye-patches.

Once Andre realized that it wasn't a joke and they had serious, romantic feelings for each other, he not only accepted Robbie and Cat's relationship, but often helped Robbie in the years to come to prepare sweet and romantic gifts for his girlfriend on their anniversaries.

Rex had his doubts, but kept most of his nasty words to himself. He made some progress with Cat when he stopped calling her 'dumber than a fish' and switched to calling her 'only kinda basic'.

Jade honestly didn't care either way whether Robbie or Cat dated or broke up.

Two more years slid by and Cat and Robbie graduated from Hollywood Arts, still going strong as a couple. Robbie perfected his and Rex's stand-up comedy and finally got noticed by one Jeff Dunham, who complimented the scrawny boy of Jewish descent on his outstanding ventriloquism skills. Robbie poured his heart and soul into acting and music classes at UCLA during college before he finally took his comedy show comprising ventriloquism and making parody songs across the US and the world eventually.

Cat went to UCLA too and dabbled in many different things during her time there. She honed her makeup skills and costume making, her uncanny gift for guessing people's dimensions sharpened into a fine tool by then. She got lots of jobs after college working on costumes and makeup for several critically acclaimed movies, including a horror movie which Jade directed and wrote the screenplay for, which won numerous awards at Cannes five years later. To everyone's surprise, Cat even got a successful patent for an innovative bra with internal pockets and compartments for everything you could possibly store, including candy when you felt peckish.

She and Rat grew even closer over the years and often engaged in a few secret scientific experiments and projects which Robbie was never privy to.

Still, Cat and Robbie managed to make time for each other in-between their busy schedules.

So it wasn't really a surprise when Robbie finally got down on one knee during a romantic dinner at Maestros (after ordering a giant bowl of caviar which he was able to pay for) and asked Cat to marry him.

Cat said yes and promptly ate the rest of Robbie's caviar in her excitement about getting married.

For the longest time, Robbie had worried that his Nana would give him grief about being with Cat, just like in the past. She certainly said her piece time and time again while they dated, but unlike before, Cat held her tongue like her name's sake and won the old woman over with a lot of time and patience.

Nana Shapiro lived for a few more years after her grandson's wedding. But during the wedding reception when Cat had tossed the bouquet, the elderly woman pulled Robbie aside with happy tears in her eyes and said:

"She really is your B'shert after all, Bubbeleh."

What did shock everyone, including Cat's parents, was when Robbie and Cat made an announcement during the rehearsal dinner that they would be moving to Northridge soon after the honeymoon. Over the years, Robbie had done many comedy shows in Northridge and earned a huge following of fans there. He reached out to members of Congress and even began pouring more and more of his own personal money into the community. It wasn't long before state laws were passed in California to replace the dingy and dilapidated residences, school and community centre and upgrade their facilities into valuable real estate other people were willing to invest in too.

Hardly anyone in Los Angeles dared to believe that Northridge could ever look so nice. There were still a few rough streets and corners in Northridge, but Cat and Robbie built themselves a lovely farm-styled house in wine country which was inspired by Great Pappy Shapiro's sketches of his old farm, but with modern amenities for them to enjoy.

They'd taken many of their eccentric and whimsical passions and made what many people around them called profitable sources of income amidst their loving relationship.

After being married for close to four years, they finally started having children: first, they had two boys (neither of which was ever christened Tug) and then two twin girls who gave Pat and Mat quite the runaround whenever it was their turn to babysit.

Robbie had no idea that he could ever be so happy.

He thought he was destined to be awkward and miserable, never finding his true passion or his true love. But Cat and the strangest dream of his entire existence had changed all of that.

Robbie loved Cat and their four children fiercely and kept strong relationships with his friends and family over the years.

He and Cat were incredibly happy, right until the last moment they shared together.

It had been a difficult year when Cat had celebrated her 60th birthday and then been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer shortly afterwards.

Still, Robbie, their children, grandchildren and their friends rallied around Cat throughout that time. For her part, Cat remained happy and positive till the very end, letting her young grandchildren lie in bed with her on her lucid days while she invented many a tale to make them smile and laugh.

Rat (who was close to 70 years old now) came to visit Cat too and they would often have private conversations together, whispering frantically in secretive fashion.

When it was time to say goodbye, Robbie and Cat held each other's wrinkled hands mottled with purple liver spots. Cat was sitting up in bed and Robbie sat beside her, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Don't be sad, Robbie…" Cat murmured, smiling happily at her husband while caressing his cheek.

Even though her hair had turned silvery white just 10 years before, Robbie still thought of Cat Valentine as his red-haired beauty who had stolen his heart some 40 years ago.

"I can't help it, Cat. Who's going to tell me my jokes are still funny and that Rex will finally stop saying so many mean things to me?" Robbie asked through the tremors of his own tears.

"You can stop him by taking your hand out of his butt," Cat teased, which made Robbie laugh hard.

"We will see each other again, my darling, I promise. Rat and I have been working on something big all these years and I think it's finally time to test it out." Cat revealed to her husband, her left cheek dimpling as she smiled secretively.

"What do you mean, Cat? What have you and Rat been working on?" Robbie asked in alarm.

"He will explain everything to you when you're ready to hear it. And whatever you do, don't get Rat psychologically tested once you hear what he has to say. Because I can promise you one thing: it will sound 'banana bread' crazy." Cat promised.

"Darling, I know my hearing isn't what it used to be, but you're still not making any sense." Robbie said in a feeble voice.

"When did I ever make any real sense before, Robbie?" Cat demanded with slight impatience.

They were almost out of time and she didn't want to waste these precious few minutes talking in riddles with the man she loved.

"I know it's hard for you, but try and trust me, my love. Everything will make sense very soon." Cat reassured her husband, her soft brown eyes looking clear and determined in the moment despite the harsh, rattling breaths coming out of her cracked lips.

"I trust you with my life," Robbie said without hesitation, leaning forward and kissing Cat's wrinkled hand.

"Whenever you feel sad or lonely, you can always find me in your dreams." Cat said, winking on the last part despite her exhaustion.

Something clicked in Robbie's head when she said that.

"Wait…what did you just say?"

"Goodbye, my darling. I'll love you forever."

"Wait, Cat!"

Cat said a silent prayer, silvery tears falling down her wan cheeks as she smiled lovingly up at Robbie. His heart shattered in his chest when her last breath left her body, her eyes sliding into place while her radiant smile remained forever frozen on her face.

This life had been her most beautiful dream yet.

* * *

**Author Note:**** Ok, so this was a bit of a filler chapter, but hopefully a mostly fluffy one for Cabbie :-)**

**I hope you guys weren't too bummed about Cat dying at the end of this chapter. Death is kind of a big theme in this story in case you hadn't noticed :-P**

**I'm not like obsessed with death or anything. I'm not Edgar Allen Poe in disguise with a raven on my shoulder chanting 'Death is all around us...' at regular intervals. **

**I would love to chant 'Ariana is all around me' instead. That could be a Billboard hit right there - think about it. **

**Yip, Ariana can just 'hit me' with her 'genie's bottle' any day of the week. It will be a music mash-up of the romantical kind. **

**Ta-do! I mean...Tootles! **


	18. Reboot

**Author Note:**** Hey there, M'suganuts! **

**I swear, my greetings are getting worse :-/**

**Anyhoo, this is the second last chapter of this story. **

**This is where things might get a little trippy for all of you. Please bear with me, I hope it will be an interesting read. **

**I promise I wasn't on acid while writing...this time. **

**Happy writing!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Victorious_ or any of the zany characters from this show. If I did, Jade would've done WAY more impressions of Cat. Like every episode and for no apparent reason except to amuse me endlessly. Liz Gillies is immensely talented at making my sides hurt from laughing too much. She deserves all the awards.**

* * *

Cat came to with an almighty lurch.

She wasn't aware of who she was or what year it was, beeps and crashes sounding in her ears.

She gazed down at her hands which were young again and slightly tanned. She caught sight of her distorted reflection in a damaged computer monitor off to the right.

She was young again!

Not only that, but her hair was still long and a deep, velvety red like she remembered and pined for ever since. She was wearing a headset and a white jumpsuit with the American flag stitched on the chest.

Her surroundings were quite alien, and that wasn't an understatement in the least.

She appeared to be sitting in what looked like the cockpit of an airplane – no, a spaceship. Except that all the equipment surrounding her was either damaged or on fire. She gazed outside frantically and saw nothing but darkness tinged with bright stars shooting past the windows of the spaceship in a speeding blur.

What was going on? Where was she?

"Mayday, mayday! NASA, come in! This is a communication from Apollo 2052! We are hurtling towards Earth and our thrusters have stopped working! NASA, do you copy?!" Sinjin shouted through the communicator beside her.

He looked every bit as young and wiry from Cat's days at Hollywood Arts, his light brown curly hair standing on end from a heightened sense of hysteria. He too was wearing a white jumpsuit with the American flag stitched onto it.

Based on this, Cat assumed that they were…colleagues?

"Sinjin! What's going on? What are we doing?" Cat asked of her old friend.

"What does it look like we're doing?! We're about to burn up in Space! You're the captain – how can you ask such dumb questions?!" Sinjin snapped.

Cat gazed down at her chest and realized that beside the American flag, there were several golden badges stitched beside it.

"I'm captaining a spaceship about to crash? That's impossible, I must be dreaming-"

Cat stopped short as the realization hit her straight in the chest.

Of course.

Rat had warned her about the disorientation and bewilderment at her new surroundings upon her waking once he activated the device when she took her final breath.

But had she woken from a dream? Or was this a new and thrilling dream she'd entered?

Whatever the case, Cat knew what she needed to do first. And that involved finding –

"The escape pods are ready! We need to get the crew and abandon ship!"

It was Robbie.

His white jumpsuit was torn and blackened in parts where he had put out several fires threatening to destroy the engines.

But he was alive and young again, his thick glasses plastered to his pale face and his black, curly hair trimmed into a neat hairstyle.

"Robbie…" Cat gasped out, tears of happiness filling her eyes.

Robbie caught her eye and for the briefest moment, his eyes stared blankly back at hers.

Cat cried even more, willing the man she loved to understand what had happened, begging desperately with her mind for him to remember everything.

A few seconds later, Robbie's eyes cleared and she knew that he was finally there with her.

"Cat?" he asked, his breath catching in his throat as he gazed in recognition at his young wife.

Cat laughed, but nodded fervently, tears still streaming down her face.

Then it was Robbie who was crying and sprinting forward.

Sparks from exposed wires streamed all around them when Cat ran forward and met Robbie halfway. Then their arms were suddenly around each other and they were hugging each other in a death grip.

Despite dreams and even death, they had found their way back to each other somehow.

"My darling, is it really you?" Robbie questioned when they finally disentangled themselves.

"Yes, it's really me." Cat affirmed, laughing happily.

"But how is this possible? You died and now you're here. We're both here and, and you're…young again? I don't understand!" Robbie declared, cupping Cat's cheek with his hand.

"It's difficult to explain, my love; I'm not even sure of all the algorithms that we used or how time and space even works now. But Rat and I made a device years ago and he activated it when I took my last breath in my last life. The idea was that whenever you died in reality, the machine captures the essence of your old life and all your memories. Then it transports your essence onto another plane of existence, a dream state or an alternate reality if you will. The situation is always different; you may be young, or you may be old. But you can keep living somehow! Rat and I never tried to use the machine before, but we kept tweaking it and ran multiple simulations when I was first diagnosed with cancer. And now it's finally worked and it brought us both here somehow: on a damaged spacecraft…" Cat concluded dubiously on the last part.

"I'm still not sure I'm following your train of thought, but I don't care! I'm just so happy to have you back! I missed you so much…" Robbie trailed off painstakingly.

"I missed you too, Robbie. If this machine really worked the way Rat and I meant it to, then we never have to be apart ever again." Cat said with sudden fervor.

They were still holding each other and smiling as Sinjin slid past them, grabbing onto the edge of a chair to steady himself.

"I'm so glad the two of you are having a 'moment'. But we are going to die in the next few minutes!" he roared indignantly at the two lovebirds.

"What's his problem?" Cat asked, jerking her thumb towards Sinjin's irate features.

"Besides the fact that our ship is crashing, I'm not sure. Then again, he's gotten a bit of an ego since you promoted him to 'Chief Engineer' of Apollo 2052."

"I promoted him?!"

"Of course. You're the captain."

"I am? Then what are you?"

"Your most trusted Science Officer, of course," Robbie announced with pride.

"And you failed in your duties because we're still crashing!" Sinjin fumed, yet another alarm for the engine failure sounding in their ears.

"I failed? You're the mechanic!" Robbie shot back angrily.

"Boys, settle down. We need to get the crew off this ship right now. Set the countdown for releasing the escape pods," Cat commanded.

"There's only one problem, Captain: the explosion short-circuited the autopilot functions. So someone has to stay behind and manually override the systems so that the escape pods can leave the ship and escape the blast range in the next 5 minutes…" Sinjin trailed off in despair.

Cat's eyes widened in horror at the grave responsibility which had suddenly been thrust on her shoulders.

But she was the captain after all, and wasn't it a good captain's duty to sacrifice their life for their crew?

Just when she was about to give Sinjin the order, Robbie squared his shoulders and sat down in the captain's chair instead.

"Sinjin, get the captain to the escape pod. I'll stay behind and control the manual override…" Robbie declared, pressing several buttons on the keypad in front of him.

"No!" Cat screamed.

"Sir…" Sinjin trailed off in dismay.

"Officer Van Cleef, you were every bit of an irritating gank, but you're still the best goddamn mechanic the American Intergalactic fleet has ever seen! Now get to safety and may God have mercy on your soul." Robbie said with the utmost seriousness.

"Yes, Sir! God speed!" Sinjin proclaimed.

He saluted clumsily and didn't look back as he sprinted towards the nearest escape pod.

"There isn't enough time to argue about it now. Go with him, Cat." Robbie urged, not looking at his wife as he put in several more codes to override the system.

"No," Cat answered with simplicity.

"No?" Robbie asked quizzically.

"You're going to get in that escape pod right now with Sinjin and let me do my damn job as the Captain of this spacecraft!" Cat fumed.

"Negative, Captain," Robbie answered with a defiant smile on his face. "You were dead minutes ago and you're miraculously alive. I'm not going to lose you again."

"And I'm not going to lose you either! You already died once of cancer too, remember?"

"Honey, that was just a dream! It wasn't real!"

"Even the imagined pain of losing you is always real for me," Cat sobbed, clutching at her chest in agony as she gazed at her husband. "I told you already: the device that Rat and I made…it's powerful. It connects every memory, including real life experiences and the dreams we've had before this. The device helped me find a way to envision and remember the anguish I must've felt when you collapsed in Northridge Abbey during Tug's recital in the Christmas Nativity…"

"It's not possible," Robbie muttered in awe, staring at Cat in a completely new light.

Cat moved forward and gripped her husband's hand tightly in hers. "Anything is possible, my love. That's why I can't let you die again."

"Well, it seems that we are at an impasse. How are we going to fix this?" Robbie asked seriously of his wife.

The spacecraft was becoming even more difficult to control with the erratic turbulence and cabin pressure destabilizing all around them.

"Together," she finally murmured.

"What?"

"Neither of us can conceive an existence without the other, so we should die together."

"Cat, that doesn't even make sense! And in any case, how could it matter?! I thought it was alright for only one of us to die so that we both wake up again!"

"I don't know that for sure – neither did Rat! Just because it's happened twice so far, doesn't mean it's guaranteed."

"Cat, this is insane. What if this isn't a dream, but another reality we've slipped into? If there's no guarantee that one of us will come back, how will we both come back?!" Robbie demanded of his wife.

Cat was stumped for a minute until she felt a lump in her pants pocket. She slipped her hand inside its cotton confines and retrieved what looked like a thin, silver flashlight with an array of glowing lights on it.

She couldn't believe she'd forgotten all about it!

"What is that?!"

"It's a receptor for the machine! Regardless of what dream or reality you're in, it works like a psychic connection with your brain as well! All you have to do is press the big red button on top and you'll wake up in a different place!" Cat explained happily.

Robbie smiled, but his was a sad smile in comparison to Cat's.

"Well, you have the receptor…" he trailed off.

With a minute left on the timer, the calculations were complete. Robbie pressed the final sequence, sending the escape pods off to safety and far away from the blasts which would soon consume the either ship.

"It's too late to follow Sinjin now because the pods have left. But you can still press the button and live again in another reality."

"Robbie…"

"It's alright, my love. I don't mind dying a second time, especially if it's for you." Robbie declared without hesitation.

"Robbie-"

"It's kind of poetic when you think about it: a man laying down his life for the woman he loves. Some might say it's romantic and manly…"

"Robbie! Check your pockets!"

Robbie stared quizzically at his wife, but did just as she asked. He was even more confused when he retrieved an identical receptor to the one in Cat's hand.

"I have one too!"

"Rat remembered to give you the receptor!" Cat breathed out in relief.

And that's when Robbie remembered something to that effect the day of Cat's funeral. Rat had cornered him while he stood beside Cat's coffin and shoved the strange device into his wrinkled hands, mumbling something about 'getting ready for space monkeys and clowns'.

"So that means…" Robbie trailed off.

"Yes! We only have a few seconds to press it!"

They got to their feet, the spacecraft continuing to hurtle towards Earth.

"Will this even work?" Robbie asked desperately, looking scared for the first time since he and Cat had come to on this godforsaken space ship.

"I don't know," Cat answered truthfully. "But I know that I love you and even if it doesn't work, I will never regret a single second of loving you in this timeline or any other."

"I love you too and I have no regrets either." Robbie said with more certainly.

"Then let's do it together."

"Yes, together. On the count of three."

Cat nodded vigorously, taking a deep breath and bracing herself.

"One…two…three!"

Their limbs wrapped around each other and they kissed feverishly as the ship began breaking up around them, debris ripping from the compartment and flying all around them. An explosion sounded in alarming proximity to them, causing live wires to thrash and spark like a seething, fiery creature.

And right before the flames leapt towards them and they were thrown from the spacecraft into the perils of Deep Space, Cat and Robbie pressed the buttons on their receptors with their mouths still melded together.

A bright, blue light from their identical devices shot out and enveloped them before everything went black.

* * *

**Author Note:**** As weird as it sounds, this was one of my favourite chapters to write. Mainly because it was soooo different from all the previous chapters and took a leap into something pretty strange and out of left field. **

**I'm sure you all will have lots of questions and/or criticisms about what happened in this chapter. Like I said, I wanted to do something different and possibly open up the door to write an original Sci-Fi story based off the ideas in this story. This chapter definitely encompassed some _Star Trek_ and _Doctor Who_. **

**Plus, I'm just a sucker for epic near-death kisses. For some reason, I had 'Another Lifetime' by Nao playing in my head while writing the Cabbie kiss scene in this chapter. **

**Next up, the epilogue of sorts to conclude this whacky story. **

**Can I get a 'Damn, Cat makes a sexy space captain - what what?'**

**Nope, just me? **

**Fiiiiiine, I'll just chant it by myself. Spoil sports. **

**Tootles! **


	19. Outlast

**Author Note:**** Bonjour, ma amies! I hope I nailed the French there - 3 years of studying it in high school, thank you very much!**

**Actually, that proves nothing. My French is still tres garbage. **

**And now, the epilogue for this story. Thanks for sticking with me from the beginning till now - you all have beautiful souls :'-)**

**Disclaimer: For the final time, I do not own _Victorious_ or any zany characters from this hilarious show. If I did, Tori would've had less FOMO and just been super chilled. Maybe then Jade would've wanted to be her friend and then kissed her on the mouth. Several times. **

* * *

Despite the odds, Robbie and Cat did survive.

And Rex had somehow joined them this time.

But the three of them weren't exactly happy about their surroundings.

"Oh great, we're in Northridge again, and it's a chizzy, dangerous street!" Robbie fumed, throwing his heads up in frustration at the graffitied buildings and burnt out cars around them.

"Uh, Robbie…are those zombies?" Cat squeaked in horror.

She pointed at a horde of the undead in the distance. They were hunched over and stalking slowly towards them, the whites of their eyes standing out in stark contrast to their dark, rotting corpses.

On impulse, Robbie grabbed his receptor and began clicking the red button on top. But no matter how many times he pressed it, nothing whatsoever happened.

"It's no good, Robbie. It only works if we're about to die!" Cat protested.

"And how sure are we that isn't going to happen in the next 5 seconds?!" Robbie whimpered in dismay.

"At least you and Cat will be able to run really fast in those tight booty shorts you're both wearing!" Rex quipped.

Robbie gazed in a mesh of confusion and intrigue at Cat's outfit. She was in fact wearing ridiculously short light blue denim cutoffs which accentuated her tanned legs; a light grey crop-top smeared with a bloody handprint; this was covered by a red and black plaid shirt that matched her flaming red hair, the sleeves of which were looped tantalizingly over her toned, bare stomach.

Robbie was only able to enjoy just how sexy Cat looked for a second before he gazed down at his own appearance in dismay.

Rex was right: he was wearing black booty shorts too. Along with a white T-shirt smeared with dirt and grease.

And were those brown ankle-high cowboy boots on his feet? They had metal spurs and everything…

"Robbie, it's going to be ok," Cat chided.

She looked every bit as terrified as Robbie did in the moment, but she was still smiling brightly at him, dazzling hope shining in those soft brown eyes of hers.

It made Robbie love Cat even more than he thought possible.

"You're right. If we're gonna die, we always have a back-up plan," Robbie agreed.

With that, he grasped Cat's free hand with his own and held on tightly to the receptor in his other hand.

"I love you so much, Cat Valentine."

"I love you too, Robbie Shapiro. See you in the next reality?" she asked, a sly smile on her face, grabbing her receptor from her denim shorts.

"Or maybe even the next dream," Robbie agreed, matching her smile.

They moved closer together and shared a slow and tender kiss that grew with every heated, passionate breath which left their lips and sent out a message of love to the universe.

Cat and Robbie's kisses were a series of promises made between them which encompassed all of their happiness with each other and trust that they'd live to see another day together somehow.

"Have I mentioned how annoying you two and your love story are in every reality you enter?" Rex demanded waspishly of the lovebirds, who had pulled apart and were back to making romantical 'googley eyes' at each other yet again.

Rex chewed thoughtfully on a toothpick, squinting through the camo-print headband covering his forehead at the zombies getting closer. Their hellish grunts and shrieks were rife with the palpable tones of hunger for warm, living flesh.

But Rex Powers hadn't been born to be afraid of anything, least of all brain-eating zombies.

Rex Powers was on a special mission: take back his beloved Earth and kill as many chizzy zombies as he could.

Or die trying.

"Chizz it, now I am wazzed off," the puppet snapped, letting his anger fuel his adrenaline for kicking some ganky zombie butt. "This is not what I meant when I said 'Turn up on a Tuesday'," he muttered, grabbing a large shotgun from behind him and taking aim.

* * *

**Author Note:**** And...ta-do! Rex Powers knows how to kill zombies - that could be useful info to have in the future ;-) And I guess we can assume that Cabbie will have many more whacky adventures with their Doctor Who-esque receptors that can launch them into dreams and alternate realities before they die. **

**The mind truly boggles. **

**That's the end of my story :'-) It's been an amazing journey, thank you so much for all the lovely reviews. I hope you all enjoyed Cat and Robbie's love story, please leave me muchas reviews por favor. **

**Now to re-read a riveting Cori fic by weirdprince called 'Question Marks' before turning in for the night. Just. Solid. Gold. **

**And after that, Ariana and I will adjourn to the yacht for a romantic cruise and a delicious lobster dinner. Now. That's. Platinum. **

**Tootles!**


End file.
